The Court of International Trade on March 25 ordered a dairy importer to pay over $30,000 in unpaid duties and penalties for misclassifying and undervaluing his entries and falsely declaring them eligible for duty preferences under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act. According to the court order (here), the government alleges Juan Chavez and his company incorrectly classified entries of “soft dairy express” as dairy butter substitutes under subheading 0405.20.4000 and non-cow’s milk cheese under subheading 0406.90.9900. He also undervalued some entries so they were below the $2,500 informal entry limit and did not require bonds, it said. Though Chavez initially defended himself against the charges, he has since failed to respond to inquiries from the court, said CIT. The government still seeks an additional $137,431.55 in unpaid duties and penalties from Chavez’ company.
Court of International Trade
The United States Court of International Trade is a federal court which has national jurisdiction over civil actions regarding the customs and international trade laws of the United States. The Court was established under Article III of the Constitution by the Customs Courts Act of 1980. The Court consists of nine judges appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is located in New York City. The Court has jurisdiction throughout the United States and has exclusive jurisdictional authority to decide civil action pertaining to international trade against the United States or entities representing the United States.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 14-20:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 6-13:
Borusan will be exempt from countervailing duties on oil country tubular goods from Turkey if a recent Court of International Trade decision is upheld on appeal, according to a Commerce Department notice (here). Commerce said a court-ordered recalculation of Borusan’s rate from the original CV duty investigation has resulted in a zero rate for the company. CIT sustained the redetermination Feb. 22, but U.S. Steel and Borusan filed an appeal March 7 (see 1603080006).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 29 - March 6:
Trademarks do not have to be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office in order to qualify for less stringent CBP country of origin marking rules, said the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a March 2 decision (here). In a dispute over how prominently a jeans importer with “U.S.A.” in its brand name must mark jeans made in China, CAFC overturned the Court of International Trade in holding the company’s unregistered marks are sufficient to allow the country of origin be listed on a small tag rather than in large letters next to the brand name.
The Court of International Trade on Feb. 29 sustained a recent Commerce Department redetermination that found four models of chests imported by Ethan Allen are not subject to antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China (A-570-890). Commerce’s Feb. 12 redetermination, filed under protest, found all four models of chests are living room furniture (see 1602160030). CIT had in December told Commerce that furniture that is not part of a bedroom set may only be considered bedroom furniture under limited circumstances that did not apply to Ethan Allen’s chests (see 1512010073).
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 22-28:
The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (here), signed into law Feb. 24, establishes under CBP's authority a new procedure for investigating allegations of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion. If importers or foreign exporters fail to respond to CBP questionnaires that may be sent as part of the investigation, they may automatically be found to be evading duties and could face high AD/CV duty rates. The new law also includes measures for strengthening Intellectual Property Rights enforcement, including sharing of information with rights holders and the extension of protections against violative imports to circumvention devices and works with copyrights pending. The option for importers of AD/CVD merchandise from "new shippers" is also eliminated.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 15-21: