The Court of International Tradehasruled against further proceedingson an Appeal Court'sruling that invalidateda CIT decision thatUPS Customhouse Brokerage violated 19 USC 1641 by not exercising responsible supervision and control.The CAFC had ruled thatCustoms was required toconsider all 10 factors listed in 19 CFR 111.1 as a prerequisite. The CIT also ruled that a discretionary remand to Customs would be inappropriate. (U.S. v. UPS Customshouse Brokerage, Inc., Slip Op. 10-11, dated 01/28/10, available at http://www.cit.uscourts.gov/slip_op/Slip_op10/Slip%20Op%2010-11.pdf)
At the December 2009 Trade Symposium, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials and others discussed CBP's rulings process and certain international rulings issues.
In Chrysler Corporationv U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a Court of International Trade ruling that Chrysler was not eligible for a refund of Harbor Maintenance Tax1 on export payments made prior to July 1, 1990, as it failed to comply with Customs' HMT refund regulation 19 CFR 24.24(e)(4)(iv)(A), by not documenting the amount paid.
In Ford Motor Company v. U.S., the Court of International Trade ruled that it did not have subject matter jurisdiction to address the merits of a post-entry claim for a NAFTA refund, as the late filing of the NAFTA Certificate of Origin is not a protestable "decision" of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
In Outer Circle Productsv U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuitreversed the Court of International Trade, ruling that bottle and jug wraps are properly classified as "table, kitchenwareof plastics, other" under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 3924.10.50 at 3.4 percent ad valorem and not as "bottle caseswith outer surface of sheeting of plastic or of textile materials, other" under subheading 4202.92.90, at 19.3 percent ad valorem.
The decisions of the Court of International Trade (CIT) and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) for December 1-15, 2009 involved antidumping or countervailing duty law are summarized as follows:
The International Trade Administration is issuing antidumping duty orders on diamond sawblades and parts thereof from China and Korea.
The following decisions in antidumping and countervailing duty cases were decided in the period July through September 2009 at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. (See future issues of ITT for BP summaries of the Court of International Trade decisions for this third quarter.)
In Faus Group, Inc., v U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the Court of International Trade, ruling that the proper classification of certain laminated flooring panels is under HTS heading 4418, and more specifically, under subheading 4418.90.40 at 3.2 percent ad valorem.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently issued revised, superseding guidance on the classification of utilitarian or functional articles with festive designs and/or motifs in light of the Michael Simon Design, Inc. v. U.S. decision.