Drawback filers may “effective immediately” submit claims for refunds on Section 301 or Section 201 duties, CBP said in a Feb. 8 CSMS message. Filers will no longer receive error messages related to unit of measure (UOM) mismatches that had been occurring “because the underlying import did not have a UOM associated to a Chapter 99” tariff number or because they had left the mandatory UOM field blank, CBP said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
In order for importers to be able to create certificates of origin under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, U.S. law will have to change. That's one of dozens of changes to statutes that will need to happen to accommodate the changes between NAFTA and USMCA. The U.S. trade representative shared the six-page outline of the needed changes with Congress late on Jan. 29, fulfilling one of the steps under fast-track consideration of the trade pact. The document suggests that USTR is still seeking a lowering of U.S. de minimis levels specifically for Canada and Mexico (see 1810190043), since those countries did not raise their de minimis levels as much as the U.S. negotiators wished.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP will postpone the entire ACE deployment that was planned for Feb. 9, due to the partial federal government shutdown, it said in a CSMS message. Government agencies resumed full operation on Jan. 28. The deployment includes "automation of CBP Form 5106, unique identifiers for Centers of Excellence and Expertise," and updates to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), CBP said. The agency will send out any updates on the deployment through another CSMS message. CBP previously said it planned to delay deployment of Form 5106 (see 1901170046). CBP also said that the "mandatory filing of drawback claims pursuant to the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA) is not impacted by the shutdown and will proceed as planned, regardless of funding status after February 15th. On February 24, 2019, all drawback claims must be filed as TFTEA drawback and must be done so electronically in ACE."
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CBP is now accepting claims for drawback on Section 301 duties on products from China, said John Leonard, executive director-trade policy and programs, on a conference call held Jan. 23 to discuss issues related to the ongoing federal government shutdown. The agency has fixed a bug in ACE that was preventing Section 301 drawback claims and is now able to begin processing, though the agency’s ability to resolve particular issues will be limited due to staffing issues caused by the ongoing shutdown, he said.
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CBP is not processing any refunds during the government shutdown, said John Leonard, CBP executive director-trade policy and programs, during a Jan. 7 conference call with industry. The agency is "not processing refunds of any kind on any type of normal entry or drawback transaction," Leonard said. The liquidation process is functioning, but "the backend refunding process and issuing of checks is not happening," he said. Interest may apply to those delayed refunds, Leonard said.
Further litigation over the final drawback rules under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act is widely expected, with the most likely target being the provisions on drawback for excise taxes, according to multiple lawyers watching the issue closely. One lawyer mentioned ongoing discussions with tobacco firms to file a lawsuit over the excise tax issue, while the wine industry, which could see an end to more than $50 million in annual refunds, would be another likely litigant. The so-called "double drawback" for excise taxes is the most obvious piece to be challenged, but there are some other issues that could face legal scrutiny.