NEW YORK -- CBP issued a request for proposals seeking a private company to collect fines on its behalf, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said at the Court of International Trade Judicial Conference on Nov. 21. Once selected, the collection agency will cost nothing to the taxpayer, instead taking a percentage of whatever fines it collects, he said. “Perhaps they’ll do a better job,” he said, noting congressional criticism of CBP’s collection efforts. “I’m not sure,” he said. In any case, CBP will learn about new collection methods and how they work, Kerlikowske said. A CBP official said in July that CBP is going through a procurement process with “multiple vendors” to find a company to collect unpaid antidumping and countervailing duties (see 1607280025).
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
Identifying information about an importer of record should not be a requirement for filing antidumping or countervailing duty evasion allegations with CBP, the Committee to Support U.S. Trade Laws (CSUSTL) said in comments to the agency (here). Such evasion often occurs through a "shell-game" of related companies, making identifying the formal importer of record very difficult, it said. The CSUSTL, largely made up of domestic producer representatives, filed the comments as part of CBP's effort to finalize AD/CV duty evasion allegation procedures at the agency under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) (see 1608190014).
The Treasury Department published its fall 2016 regulatory agenda for CBP (here), which mentions new rulemakings that implement part of the customs reauthorization. The agenda includes first mentions of an increase to the de minimis value (here) and antidumping and countervailing duty evasion investigation procedures (here). While interim final rules on both were issued earlier this year, CBP sought public comments on each, so further changes may be included when the regulations are finalized. CBP is aiming to finish the AD/CV duty evasion rulemaking (see 1608190014) by March, and the de minimis rulemaking (see 1608250029) by April, it said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is amending a duty refund program for wool importers to allow foreign-trade zone users to qualify for the program, it said (here). Importers that use worsted wool to manufacture suits, suit-type jackets, and trousers for men and boys in FTZs before exporting them into U.S. customs territory and paying duties on the imported wool will now be eligible for a refund equal to the difference between the duty in effect at the time of importation and the duty that would have been in effect under a tariff-rate quota that expired in 2014. Likewise, FTZ users that use imported wool yarn, wool fiber or wool top will now be eligible for a duty refund to compensate for the 2014 expiration of a duty suspension for the products. Both refund programs were implemented by a final rule issued in 2015 (see 1503060070). USDA is also amending both of these programs to allow the owner of worsted wool, wool yarn, wool fiber or wool top to claim refunds if they owned it at the time it was cut and sewn, regardless of whether the person actually did the cutting and sewing.
MIAMI -- Efforts toward a North American Single Window should not change the role of customs brokers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, respectively, said Geoff Powell, president of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. The association is not looking for a “European Union model” wherein brokers would be able to conduct customs business throughout the continent, Powell said, speaking at the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 15. Instead, it’s working with CBP, Canadian and Mexican customs, and broker groups in Mexico and Canada on facilitating the sharing of data, including export and import manifest, to “make it a little bit easier in getting the data” and to avoid duplicating information, he said.
MIAMI -- CBP and the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) are ramping up efforts to improve the customs ruling process so importers can get quicker responses from CBP headquarters, said Brenda Smith, CBP executive assistant commissioner for trade, and Lenny Feldman of Sandler Travis, who co-chairs COAC’s trade modernization subcommittee. The COAC will announce a “public-private partnership” at its Nov. 17 meeting in Washington to build on its existing efforts to modernize the rulings process, Feldman said, speaking at the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 15.
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted (here):
CBP will pay $72,222.32 as part of a settlement with a furniture importer that was mistakenly used as the importer of record and later assessed antidumping duties on an entry of wooden bedroom furniture from China, according to a settlement agreement filing with the Court of International Trade. The importer, Lifestyle Enterprise, challenged CBP in the CIT over a denied protest (see 1501290028) that left the company liable for antidumping duties (see 1502190058). CBP and Lifestyle agreed to the settlement "without reliquidating the entry subject to this action," according to the court filing. Lifestyle also agreed to seek a voluntary motion to dismiss with prejudice, abandon all other claims and cover its own litigation costs. Lifestyle originally sued for $144,444.64, the amount of the bill it received for the entry on which it was mistakenly listed as importer of record. A related lawsuit against the customs broker, which did not have a power of attorney from Lifestyle, was dismissed last year due to jurisdictional issues (see 1509210065). The Justice Department, Lifestyle and CBP didn't comment.
NEW YORK -- The Centers of Excellence and Expertise are working closely with the Office of Regulatory Audit as it increasingly uses surveys to explore potential areas of compliance problems, said Todd Owen, CBP executive assistant commissioner, Office of Field Operations, Nov. 9 at the Apparel Importers Trade and Transportation Conference. Through the CEEs, "we look at all the disciplines that touch a company" so "there is that level of communication between the account managers, the import specialists and the auditors as we're going forward with this approach," he said. CBP is using “informed compliance” letters and questionnaires sent to importers as part of a broader shift toward the use of audit surveys in the agency’s compliance verification activities (see 1608090024).
The Commerce Department is currently drafting new regulations to create a process for issuing scope rulings quickly when requested by CBP during Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) investigations of antidumping and countervailing evasion, a Commerce Department official said. The recent customs reauthorization law’s EAPA provisions include a section that allows CBP to refer to Commerce if it is unsure whether a product named in an evasion complaint is covered by the scope of duties. Commerce intends “to create a process that allows us to address a CBP referral promptly and preserves the flexibility to gather information and input from parties for [Commerce’s] consideration,” the official said. The regulatory changes will “address differences between the EAPA requirements and Commerce's current processes for scope inquiries,” an industry executive has said (see 1610140044).