PHILADELPHIA -- CBP has not issued any withhold release orders for goods unrelated to Uyghur forced labor since the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act passed in late 2021. Eric Choy, the CBP official whose office oversees the ban on goods made with forced labor, said that targeting forced labor abuses outside of China "is something that we're definitely reprioritizing resources [for], to focus in on those efforts." Choy, who is executive director of Trade Remedy Law Enforcement Directorate, said in an interview during the CBP Trade Facilitation and Cargo Security Summit last week that he expects there will be a WRO announced before October.
The Commerce Department is finalizing a new exemption for metal safes from its antidumping and countervailing duty orders on metal lockers from China (A-570-133/C-570-134), it said April 1 in the final results of a changed circumstances review. The partial revocation takes effect for entries on or after Dec. 1, 2021.
The Commerce Department is amending antidumping duty rates it set in its preliminary determination in the AD investigation on mattresses from India (A-533-919), it said in an April 1 notice correcting a "significant ministerial error" in its original preliminary determination issued in March (see 2403010055).
CBP announced a new Enforce and Protect Act investigation, saying it has reasonable suspicion that VY Industries, a Canada-based company and U.S. distributor, evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on wire coated coil nails from China. The agency said this finding made the enactment of interim measures necessary.
Vessels arriving with cargo for unloading in Baltimore may consider using a different U.S. port until further notice, CBP said in a CSMS message on March 29. Vessel arrival notices and manifest updates would be required to make a switch, including updating the port of unlading, the agency said in the notice. The port has been closed to vessel traffic since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed March 26 (see 2403260047).
The Commerce Department intends to end antidumping and countervailing duties on stainless steel flanges made to SAE J518 or ISO 6162 specification, the agency said in the initiation and preliminary results of a changed circumstances review of the AD/CVD orders on stainless steel flanges from China (A-570-064/C-570-065) and India (A-533-877/C-533-878).
PHILADELPHIA -- Getting the funding for ACE 2.0 is the biggest challenge, the executive director of CBP's trade transformation office said. He said the agency was unsuccessful in the budgetary process, and asked industry to lobby their representatives for funding.
The Commerce Department has released amended final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on cold-rolled steel flat products from South Korea (A-580-881) that were used to set final assessments of AD on importers for subject merchandise entered Sept. 1, 2021, through Aug. 31, 2022 (see 2402220060). The amendment came as the result of a ministerial error allegation from Steel Dynamics, Inc. Commerce said it agreed with the allegation, which pointed out that in calculating a countervailing duty export subsidy offset for Hyundai Steel Company, Commerce adjusted Hyundai's U.S. price by 4% instead of by the intended 0.04%. The correction results in a change to two AD rates published Feb. 23 in the original final results. The new rates are effective March 28.
CBP has released its March 27 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 12), which includes the following ruling actions:
PHILADELPHIA -- When CBP ran an audit to estimate how many packages that enter under de minimis violate Customs laws, it found about 9% did, either through misclassification, insufficient documentation, or more serious violations, like smuggling narcotics.