The Court of International Trade on June 9 dismissed two cases brought by importers challenging the allegedly late liquidation of entries subject to antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China. Hutchison Quality Furniture (here) and P.F. Stores (here) argued their entries should have deemed liquidated because CBP missed the six-month window for liquidating entries affected by a court decision. The companies said the error was the result of Commerce’s liquidation instructions. In two separate decisions from Judge Claire Kelly, CIT ruled that liquidation is CBP’s responsibility, and can only be challenged by filing a protest, paying the required duties, and bringing a case against the denied protest at CIT.
The past year’s court rulings on corporate employee liability for customs violations has sparked deliberation in the trade community over what Trek Leather means for import compliance professionals. Customs lawyers warn of the possibility that unsuspecting corporate officers and compliance managers could find themselves subject to penalties and fines, although some attorneys say those concerns are overstated. Trade associations are busy deciphering how importers should address any liability arising from the case, including whether they should offer employees indemnification or insurance. However, creating insurance covering employee liability for customs violations is fraught with difficulties, and lawyers and insurers interviewed said no such policies exist as of yet.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 1-7:
Canada is preparing to retaliate with $3 billion in raised duties on U.S. exports as early as late summer after the World Trade Organization gives final retaliatory authorization in the long-running dispute over country-of-origin labeling on meat muscle cuts, said Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz in a June 4 briefing with reporters. The remaining procedural hurdles at the WTO may prolong authorization for retaliation to late fall, however, said Ritz. Canada and Mexico, the complainants in the case, still need to meet a series of time-sensitive deadlines before the final go-ahead (see 1505270016).
A recently announced delay in implementation of certain entry types in the Automated Commercial Environment has ratcheted up the pressure on filers and software providers striving to meet CBP’s Nov. 1 deadline. CBP on May 22 issued a CSMS message (here) pushing back deployment in ACE of all entry types that may include quota merchandise from June 27 to Oct. 31. That leaves only one day for live testing of those entry types -- 11 in total, including foreign-trade zone and warehouse entries and withdrawals -- before the Automated Commercial System goes offline and paper becomes the only fallback, said customs brokers and software developers in interviews.
CenturyLink and ITTA urged the FCC to resolve the intraMTA (major trading area) intercarrier compensation dispute as soon as possible, according to an ex parte filing on a meeting they had with agency officials posted in docket 14-228. The LEC officials said the commission shouldn't wait for a U.S. District Court in Dallas to resolve litigation arising from the dispute, which is "creating massive and unnecessary uncertainty for the entire industry," the filing said. LECs say interexchange carriers (IXCs) should pay long-distance access charges for intraMTA traffic, but Sprint and Verizon say they're liable only for local reciprocal compensation, which involves lower costs (see 1505190056). The court won't hear oral arguments on LEC motions to dismiss IXC lawsuits making financial claims until September or October, with "no assurance of a prompt ruling" this year, the filing said. "With IXC withholdings continuing month after month, time is of the essence," the filing said. Meanwhile, Verizon officials told FCC officials recently there was no exception to an FCC intraMTA wireless traffic rule requiring reciprocal compensation payments when that traffic is carried by an intermediary carrier, such as an IXC, according to an ex parte filing on phone conversations they had. "The intraMTA rule says reciprocal compensation applies to wireless intraMTA traffic, and the Commission rejected the argument that access charges apply if intraMTA wireless traffic is routed through an intermediary interexchange carrier," the Verizon filing said. "We also said that it would have made no sense for the Commission to set a separate, higher, intercarrier compensation rate for some — but not all — intraMTA traffic at the same time the Commission put in a place a new intercarrier compensation system expressly designed to harmonize and reduce rates."
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce recently took the Food and Drug Administration to task over the agency’s practices regarding “untitled letters.” In a May 27 letter (here) from Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy, R-Pa., the committee noted inconsistencies in how the agency makes the untitled letters available to the public, and questioned the circumstances under which an untitled letter was issued in one particular case where an agency inspection had found no violations.
Cellphone cases imported by OtterBox are classifiable as articles of plastic under chapter 39 of the HTS, and not under an expansive heading in chapter 42 covering various types of containers, said the Court of International Trade in a May 26 decision released on June 2 (here). Overturning the classification and duty rate assessed by CBP at liquidation, the court also ruled that CBP owes OtterBox refunds on post-importation payments of duties on assists provided in connection with the cellphone cases.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 25-31:
TACOMA, Wash. -- CBP will put on hold some customs broker modernization efforts in order to consider a more expansive revision to the regulations, said CBP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith while meeting with reporters during the agency's West Coast Trade Symposium on May 27. While CBP recently announced progress in the required regulatory process, the agency will instead take another look at available options, she said. Smith said she could not discuss the specific problems within the package that resulted in the pause.