The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Sept. 9-15 and 16-22:
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, in a conference session preparing its members for a day lobbying on Capitol Hill, said that the NCBFAA is not arguing for or against a de minimis restriction proposal from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. The proposal would require all goods entering in de minimis to be classified with a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule code and would bar apparel, footwear and other "import-sensitive" goods from eligibility.
While a top CBP official didn't give any specifics on how many brokerages were suspended from a pilot that allows electronic clearance of de minimis packages (see 2405310054), he told attendees at an annual National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference not to "be afraid of that enforcement," as the brokers who were suspended were so lax that there wasn't even anything that the companies could argue about with CBP.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is making changes to its list of Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes the agency plans to implement Phase VII of the Lacey Act provisions.
The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements is adding a two-way stretch woven polyester, rayon, spandex fabric to the "short supply list" in Annex 3.25 of the Dominican Republic-Central America-U.S. Free Trade Agreement for items not commercially available in a timely manner, it said in a notice. CFI Textiles requested the additions in August. The fabric, classifiable under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 5515.11.00, is being added in unrestricted quantities. Under short supply provisions of CAFTA-DR, fibers, yarns and fabrics listed in Annex 3.25 are provided with tariff preferences under the trade agreement.
In the Sept. 18 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 37), CBP published a proposal to revoke ruling letters concerning certain wheels and hubs for trucks and trailers and the applicability of the generalized system of preferences to incandescent string lights.
In the Sept. 11 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 36), CBP published a proposal to revoke ruling letters concerning polyurethane-coated weft knit fabric materials from China.
Economists at the Peterson Institute for International Economics said that if the U.S. were to move all Chinese imports into Column 2 of the tariff schedule, removing permanent normal trade relations status, it would increase inflation by four-tenths of a percent if China were to retaliate, and it would hurt manufacturing the most -- the area politicians most want to protect.
In the Sept. 11 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 36), CBP published a proposal to revoke ruling letters concerning steel assembly hardware sets from Vietnam and training pants.
When filing unused merchandise drawback claims, companies can select the unit of measure they want to use for calculating per unit averaging where two units of measure are provided on the entry summary, provided that companies keep two conditions, according to a recent CROSS ruling issued by CBP.