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.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection must be aware of the limits of what customs brokers can provide to CBP, though there are several ways brokers can work with CBP to further the importing process, according to written testimony from Darrell Sekin, president of the National Customs Brokers and Forwards Association of America. Sekin is scheduled to testify May 17 before the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee during a hearing on Supporting Economic Growth and Job Creation through Customs Trade Modernization, Facilitation, and Enforcement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has clarified that protests may be submitted for Generalized System of Preference (i) entries that were filed with the special program indicator (SPI) “A” at entry summary but for which the automated scripting failed to liquidate the entry with a refund, and (ii) entries for which a refund was requested retroactively but were denied in error.
Customs and Border Protection's Office of Information and Technology said it assembled a list of companies/persons offering data processing services to the trade community for the Automated Broker Interface (ABI). It said inclusion on the list doesn't constitute any form of an endorsement by CBP about the nature, extent or quality of the services that may be provided.
The Court of International Trade remanded the results of the International Trade Administration’s initial remand of the 2005-06 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled carbon steel flat products from India (A-533-820). CIT sustained the ITA’s remand redetermination of Indian intervenor-defendant Essar’s duty-drawback claim in response to domestic plaintiffs’ arguments, as well as its decision to use invoice date as the date of sale, rather than the date of the letter of credit, as it had in the original final results. However, CIT remanded the initial remand results (i) for application of the ITA’s new policy on adjusting cost of production in accordance with the adjustment to Essar’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. CIT says that the ITA has until May 25, 2012 to amend and correct the initial remand results. (Slip Op. 12-48, dated 04/11/12, Judge Aquilino)
Officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently stated that importers who have not received a Generalized System of Preferences SPI “A” refund by March 31, 2012 should assume that the claim “fell through the cracks” and file a written refund request by the April 18, 2012 deadline to ensure those refunds are received.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that it will conduct the next Customs Broker License Examination on Monday, April 2, 2012.