CBP posted an updated version of its notice announcing that the next customs broker license exam will be on Wednesday, Oct. 3.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Court of International Trade’s 2011 ruling against Shell’s duty drawback claims for Harbor Maintenance Tax and Environmental Tax payments. In June 2011, CIT said the claims were time barred because duty drawback claims may only be filed within the three years after exporting the substitute merchandise. Shell had filed duty drawback claims in 1995 and 1996, within the three-year window, but its claims only requested drawback on import duties, and not on the HMT and ET payments. Shell didn’t file new duty drawback claims for HMT and ET payments during the six-month grace period for untimely drawback claims offered by Congress’ 1999 amendments to the drawback statute, either.
CBP outlined possible regulatory alternatives being considered as part of its rewrite of broker regulations (19 CFR Part 111) during a webinar Aug. 9. The webinar on "Developing regulatory alternatives and evaluating economic impacts" focused on establishing regulatory alternatives to the major issues being considered as part of the rewrite: Bona Fides, a revised Broker Permitting System, and Continuing Education.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
CBP listed changes to the Electronic Invoice Program (EIP)/Remote Location Filing (RLF) hybrid ineligible forms list (dated June 2011). CBP said in a CSMS message the following forms have been removed from the ineligible forms list and are eligible to be submitted to CBP via the EIP/RLF hybrid process:
The customs broker’s license examination scheduled for October 2012 will be on Wednesday, Oct. 3, said CBP in a notice in the Federal Register July 3. While usually scheduled for the first Monday in October, this year the first Monday coincides with the observance of the religious holiday Sukkot, said CBP.
The Court of International Trade sustained the International Trade Administration’s second remand redetermination of the final results of the 2005-06 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat products (A-533-820). This second remand redetermination, which was ordered by CIT in April (i) for application of the ITA’s new policy on adjusting cost of production in accordance with the adjustment to Indian company Essar Steel Limited’s export price resulting from its duty-drawback claim, and (ii) to allow for the correction of a ministerial error discovered by Essar and agreed to by the ITA, sets the AD rate for Essar at 9.01%, up from 5.22% in the original final results. No parties contested the second remand redetermination, so CIT sustained it.
CBP is looking into establishing a pilot program that would waive the requirement to maintain a place of business within the district where customs business is being conducted, allowing for more virtual transactions, said CBP officials June 28. The officials spoke during a CBP Webinar on "Modernizing broker permitting requirements," the third of several Webinars on changes to broker regulation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection will begin retroactive billing for merchandise entered between October 1 and November 4, 2011, with the increased merchandise processing fee, said CBP in a June 15 CSMS message. The billing will be done by the CBP Office of International Trade, said CBP. CBP said it began the scripting of liquidate entries last week and expects to liquidate approximately 20,000 entries per week but doesn't have an estimated completion date.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said, effective immediately, all drawback claims involving goods exported to Chile must be submitted separately from all other types of drawback claims. As a result of the U.S. -- Chilean Free Trade Agreement, drawback claims made on goods exported to Chile after January 1, 2012 are subject to special treatment as described in 19 U.S.C. 1313(j)(4)(B) and 1313(n). This includes a possible reduction in drawback refunds for certain claims. The paper submission of the claim should be marked “Chile FTA” in conspicuous letters on the top of the first page.