The U.S. economy “has been marked by slow but steady recovery and some rebalancing since the last Review,” said the World Trade Organization in its trade policy review of the U.S. “Merchandise and services trade figures have rebounded significantly since the 2009 financial crisis and have now reached new peak levels, surpassing previous 2008 peak levels,” it said. While import policy has remained “relatively static” since the last WTO review in 2010, the U.S. has launched several export initiatives, including the National Export Initiative, and Export Control Reform. Preferential trade and Free Trade Agreements account for a large and growing share of U.S. trade, the report said.
The Court of International Trade affirmed CBP’s Harmonized Tariff Schedule classification of R.T. Foods’ tempura vegetables from Thailand as vegetable preparations in Chapter 20, rather than as miscellaneous edible preparations in Chapter 21. CBP’s classification as vegetables specifically described the product, so it could not instead be classified in R.T. Foods’ preferred catch-all edible preparations provision, CIT said.
The Court of International Trade’s November decision in International Customs Products v. U.S. marked the culmination of an unusually contentious case, and a difficult one for the court to decide, industry lawyers said. In its ruling, CIT said a Notice of Action that reclassified International Custom Product’s entries of white sauce was an “interpretive ruling or decision” that improperly revoked an earlier ruling letter, without the notice and comment period required by 19 USC 1625. About $300 million dollars in duties were at stake, as well as CBP’s flexibility to rate advance entries through Notices of Action. The outcome could impose burdens on both CBP and importers, said a former CBP lawyer now in private practice.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 3-7 in case they were missed.
CBP Los Angeles/Long Beach is working to ease compliance with the entry/clearance requirements so these vessels can dock at Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals as they reopen after the strike there, it said. It said CBP Los Angeles is maintaining close communications with terminal operators, shipping lines, brokers/freight forwarders, and Centralized Examination Stations (CES) to assess the status of recovery operations and adjust as necessary. Among other things, CBP L.A. is:
At the request of Sanderson Farms, Inc., a North American Free Trade Agreement panel review was launched on countervailing duties on the import into Mexico of chicken leg quarters from the U.S., according to a Federal Register notice scheduled for Dec. 5. The request was filed with the Mexican Section of the NAFTA Secretariat pursuant to Article 1904 of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The NAFTA Secretariat assigned Case Number MEX-USA-2012-1904-01 to the review.
The Supreme Court will not hear Hitachi’s challenge of time limits for CBP action on customs protests, after denying certiorari to Hitachi Home Electronics v. U.S. on Dec. 3. The denial means the Federal Circuit’s November 2011 ruling that the two-year time limit imposed on CBP by 19 USC 1515(a) is not mandatory will stand, and that accelerated disposition remains the remedy for importers who want to force CBP action. Several trade associations are discussing legislation to impose a mandatory time limit for CBP action on protests. But given the broad-based issues Congress is confronting in its lame duck session, any legislative solution will probably have to wait, said Susan Kohn Ross of Mitchell Silberberg.
Law enforcement agencies would be required to get a warrant to access electronic communications stored by third parties, such as email clients, under an amendment to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday. The amendment was authored by Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Currently, law enforcement agencies don’t need a warrant for communications stored for more than 180 days. The amendment passed the committee by voice vote, with Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who wasn’t present for the vote, casting the sole “no” vote by proxy. Committee members acknowledged the amendment is unlikely to pass both chambers in the remainder of the session. “At least this will give us a start as we go into the new session,” Leahy said.
Several trade associations are cautious about federal agencies abusing Chevron doctrine deference, an amici brief filed at the Supreme Court showed. The case addresses whether federal agencies should be allowed to determine their own jurisdiction. The American Farm Bureau Federation, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Home Builders, the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, the National Mining Association and the Retail Litigation Center filed a joint brief supporting the petitioners this week. “Expanding the scope of ‘Chevron’s domain’ to agency jurisdictional determinations would have vast -- and troubling -- implications for the administrative state,” the joint brief said. “Historically, de novo judicial review of agency assertions of jurisdiction has served as an essential check against agency aggrandizement of power.” At stake is the “proper allocation of authority within the federal government and the relationship between the federal government and the States,” the trade associations said. The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners filed a separate joint brief Tuesday (http://xrl.us/bn3rxc) with several municipal parties of the State and Local Legal Center in support of the City of Arlington, Texas v. FCC petitioners, as expected and reported last week (CD Nov 21 p1).
Federal Maritime Commission said the following have filed applications for a license as a Non-Vessel-Operating Common Carrier (NVO) and/or Ocean Freight Forwarder (OFF)-Ocean Transportation Intermediary (OTI) pursuant to section 19 of the Shipping Act of 1984. The FMC also gave notice of the filing of applications to amend an existing OTI license or the qualifying individual for a license. Interested persons may contact the Office of Transportation Intermediaries, Federal Maritime Commission, Washington, D.C. 20573, at 202-523-5843 or at OTI@fmc.gov.