CBP shot down a protest of three denied drawback claims filed by a petroleum refiner and marketer due to the company's substitution of a finished product. CBP's March 6 ruling, HQ H024887, reviewed drawback claims filed by the refiner, Tesoro, in 2007. The drawback claims were on crude oil imported into the company's Washington facility because of exports of jet fuel refined from different crude oil at the company's Alaska refinery. CBP also looked at whether two separately incorporated refineries owned by Tesoro, should be considered as a single legal entity.
The Court of International Trade on April 29 rejected a bid by BP Oil Supply Co. to get drawback on over 40 million barrels of crude oil it imported in the mid-1990s. Although the imported crude and the exported crude had been of different types, BP had requested unused merchandise drawback based on the fact that the different types of oil were about the same weight. But both CBP and CIT found that BP failed to provide enough evidence that the imported and exported oil were commercially interchangeable. And the court also found that the way the Alaska oil industry works means that the exported oil wasn’t unused, either.
CBP will face a number of new logistical challenges as it works to transition three Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs) to handle several entry processes for entire industries, said industry and agency officials that spoke at the 2014 Trade Symposium. The first three CEEs to make the shift -- those handling electronics, petroleum and pharmaceutical industries (see 14030613) -- will be tasked with processing the entries of tens of thousands of companies when they previously handled under a hundred, said CBP officials during a panel on the CEEs.
Dow Chemical may substitute the import of a chemical with a separate export of that chemical for drawback purposes, said CBP's Entry Process and Duty Refunds Branch in an Feb. 10 ruling recently released. CBP said it considered the imported and exported methyl acrylate commercially interchangeable and eligible for unused merchandise drawback. Specifically, CBP found the chemicals met the criteria for being interchangeable under the drawback statute, 19 U.S.C. Section 1313(j)(2).
CBP posted an updated version of its notice announcing that the next customs broker license exam will be on Monday, April 7.
The customs broker’s license examination scheduled for April 2014 will be on Monday, April 7, said CBP in a notice. The four-hour exam consists of 80 multiple-choice questions, with a score of 75 percent required to pass. Exam topics usually include: Entry, Classification, Country of Origin, Trade Agreements, Antidumping/Countervailing Duty, Value, Broker Responsibilities, FP&F, Protests, Marking, Prohibited and Restricted Merchandise, Drawback, Intellectual Property Rights, and other subjects pertinent to a broker's duties. CBP said registration is expected to open for the exam in February.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 4-8 in case they were missed.
NEW YORK- CBP is planning to eventually add reconciliation processing from the ports of entry to the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs), said Dora Murphy, director of the Apparel, Footwear and Textiles CEE on Nov. 6. The agency is also feeling out a move of drawback processing to the CEEs, though that idea is still in the early stages of discussion at the agency, she said at a conference held by the U.S. Fashion Industry Association, previously known as the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (see 13110612). CBP will also relax the Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) requirement for CEE participation early next year in an effort to add members, she said.
The trade industry was still assessing the short- and long-term effects of the government shutdown Oct. 1. CBP had already said its core functions would not be immediately affected (see 13093028). And the U.S. National Airspace System was operating normally Oct. 1, with no reports of any impact to operations due to the government shutdown, said The International Air Cargo Association.
The Senate debated House-passed H.J. Res. 59, the stopgap government funding measure that withdraws Affordable Care Act appropriations, on Sept. 27. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., intends to hold a series of votes at 12:30 on Sept. 27 to send an amended bill back to the House. Should lawmakers fail to pass funding legislation prior to the outset of Fiscal Year 2014 on Oct.1, government-wide agencies will face varying levels of shutdown (see 13092521).