CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., says that although his initial list of pay-fors did not include any taxes on tobacco, he thinks the House Ways and Means Committee proposal is worthy of being included on what he called "a menu of options" to give Democratic senators choices. "I happen to think that this is an important idea, they're talking, I gather, at e-cigarettes," he said during a Capitol hallway interview.
The ability to eliminate excise taxes on tobacco products through substitution drawback would end if the tax legislation the House Ways and Means Committee is considering becomes law. The U.S. considers this sort of drawback "double drawback," because the substitute exported product was never subject to excise taxes, and that is how the committee characterized it. "This provision stops the practice of double drawbacks for tobacco products by making exports that are not subject to excise tax ineligible for a drawback claim," the summary says.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Aug. 30 - Sept. 3 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Operations including the oiling of a machine, the fitting of a transformer to adjust electrical voltage and the uploading of software patches to a machine tool do not constitute manufacturing or use, and do not render the machine tool ineligible for unused merchandise drawback, CBP said in a recent ruling. The operations do not transform the machine tools into a new product, but merely make them operational for the end customer, CBP told Knuth Machine in HQ H290897, issued July 28 and publicly released Aug. 26.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Aug. 26. The following headquarters rulings were modified recently, according to CBP:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 16-22:
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Aug. 16-20 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP cannot limit the amount of drawback that can be claimed on excise taxes, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in an Aug. 23 opinion upholding the Court of International Trade's ruling. Holding that the CBP regulation defied the "clear intent of Congress," the appellate court ruled against the government appeal of CIT's decision, providing a win for the plaintiffs, the National Association of Manufacturers and The Beer Institute.
CBP provided some more detail on the requirements of importers and brokers for duty-free claims under subheading 9801.00.10, in a recent CSMS message. The update revises a guidance issued by CBP in 2017 on legislative changes that allowed for duty-free treatment of products of the U.S. returned within any time frame after having been exported, or products of other countries returned within three years after having been exported, and not advanced in value or improved in condition (see 1702010047). CBP said it plans to propose regulatory changes to "align" the regulations with the law.