Products containing glass must be mostly made of other materials, or include mechanical components, to be classified as machinery under chapter 84, said the Court of International Trade in a July 10 decision (here). Although the note excluding articles of glass from classification in chapter 84 is silent as to what “of glass” means, CIT looked to the history of the World Customs Organization’s Harmonized System tariff schedule to find the international body intended it to mean products that are not “mainly of other materials.”
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 6 - 10 in case they were missed.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 29 - July 5:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on June 30 affirmed the constitutionality of a longstanding requirement to pay duties before bringing most customs cases to court (here). International Custom Products had appealed the case from the Court of International Trade, arguing that requiring the now-bankrupt importer to pay $28 million in duties violated its due process right to a hearing. In yet another twist in ICP’s decade-long struggle involving entries of white sauce that the courts have found were the subject of an improperly revoked ruling, the Federal Circuit found that the conditions set by law for challenging protest denials are inviolable, despite the unpleasant circumstances of ICP’s case.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 22-28:
An ongoing criminal investigation for antidumping and countervailing duty evasion does not in itself justify single transaction bond requirements to combat transshipment, ruled the Court of International Trade on June 26. CBP must detail its reasoning for enhanced bonding requirements by providing the importer and the court with specific allegations, instead of noting suspicion based on the mere existence of an ICE investigation, said CIT.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 15-21:
The Court of International Trade on June 19 overturned CBP’s application of antidumping duties on imports of steel electrical conduit, finding the agency wrongly interpreted the scope of an AD duty order on circular welded pipe from China. The government had disputed the importer’s ability to challenge a CBP decision related to AD duties, arguing that Puerto Rico-based LDA Incorporado should have filed suit against the Commerce Department’s scope instructions instead. But with the fact not in dispute that Commerce’s scope instructions exempted LDA’s product, CIT found the importer’s issue was clearly with CBP’s incorrect interpretation and ordered the entries reliquidated.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a complaint against Uber with the FTC Monday about the company’s proposed changes to its privacy policy that are expected to take effect July 15. “In less than four weeks, Uber will claim the right to collect personal contact information and detailed location data of American consumers, even when they are not using the service,” EPIC's complaint said. “These changes ignore the FTC’s prior decisions, threaten the privacy rights and personal safety of American consumers, ignore past bad practices of the company involving the misuse of location data, pose a direct risk of consumer harm, and constitute an unfair and deceptive trade practice subject to investigation by the Federal Trade Commission."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 15-19 in case they were missed.