Certain Lexmark printers no longer are subject to antidumping or countervailing duties on printers from China after the company changed its production process and proved the printers are substantially transformed in Mexico, CBP said in a recent ruling.
CBP ignored the metadata of certain photographs and videos in an evasion investigation in order to claim they were unreliable, a wooden cabinet importer argued July 8 at the Court of International Trade (Skyview Cabinet USA v. U.S., CIT # 22-00080).
CBP has released its July 10 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 27). It contains a final rule adopting amendments to CBP regulations related to the import of merchandise that violates or is suspected of violating copyright laws, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see 2407010029). It also contains a notice of revocation of one ruling letter and a revocation of treatment relating to the tariff classification of an automotive clutch tube that will be effective for merchandise entered or withdrawn from warehouse or consumption on or after Aug. 9.
The Court of International Trade sustained CBP's finding that Dominican exporter Kingtom Aluminio didn't evade antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. In a June 13 decision made public July 8, Judge Richard Eaton said Kingtom responded to all U.S. requests for information during an Enforce and Protect Act investigation, precluding the use of adverse facts available. He also said the court can't ignore "the total lack of any record evidence of any imports by Kingtom into the Dominican Republic" of aluminum extrusions made in China.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website as of July 5-8, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called for a "legislative fix" to the de minimis exception "and the exploitation of that exception," the first time the administration has clearly said it hopes Congress will restrict the program that allows purchasers to import up to $800 worth of goods per day without paying tariffs.
Public comments are due by Aug. 8 on a USDA proposed rule that could raise the Agricultural Marketing Service’s research and promotion program import fees for certain watermelon imports. People and companies that import 150,000 pounds or more annually of watermelons would be required to pay “nine cents per hundredweight” of watermelons, USDA said, up from the current "six cents per hundredweight." The agency said those fees are usually paid to CBP upon entry.
Even though two jacket styles produced by manufacturer and supplier Youngone El Salvador met the tariff shift requirement of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), the jackets still aren't eligible for preferential tariff treatment because the visible lining was formed and finished in a country outside of member countries with the CAFTA-DR, CBP ruled recently.
Shipping, trucking and freight forwarding associations urged the Federal Maritime Commission to reject a request from a group of major ocean carriers seeking to push back the effective date of the FMC’s new demurrage and detention billing requirements (see 2402230049), saying in public comments to the commission that the delay would cause widespread confusion within the shipping industry. But two of those groups said the FMC should at least consider giving the industry more time to adapt to the rules before punishing violators with fines.