CBP outlined its recent enforcement work related to antidumping and countervailing duties in an AD/CVD Update for October (here). The agency recently participated in "the first trilateral customs steel enforcement and cooperation dialogue hosted by the Canada Border Services Agency" in Ottawa, Canada, it said. The meeting included CBP, Mexican and Canadian officials, it said. "They are committed to strengthening steel enforcement throughout North America, communicating commonalities of steel products subject to additional import duties (antidumping and countervailing), and tackling issues surrounding the tactics used to evade these duties, such as transshipment, misclassification, and undervaluation," it said. "Opportunities for joint or parallel operations and information sharing of best practices, trends, and non-company[-]specific instances of duty evasion, within the limits of each country’s privacy laws were among the key proposals. These discussions set the stage for continued trilateral meetings and engagement to establish compliance operations essential to addressing steel enforcement across North America." CBP also highlighted recent honey seizures and meetings between CBP Executive Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith and honey producers.
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.
Arduous processes in Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Ghana are among the most significant customs-related issues that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should report in its 2017 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report on Foreign Trade Barriers, the U.S. Council for International Business (USCIB) said in comments to USTR (here). Mexico’s April 2015 amendment to its Customs Law Rules requires that importers of record provide documents reflecting the valuation of imported goods to Mexican customs brokers by the time of importation. But the requirement demands documents that are usually issued to importers after importation, or that are confidential or “non-existent,” USCIB said. The Mexican government has delayed enforcement of the requirement five times. Several customs regulations can’t be enforced because they are “impossible to implement,” a byproduct of the Mexican tax authority’s regular crafting of regulations without industry input, USCIB said.
Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker should address possible antidumping duty evasion on washing machines from China through the relocation of production operations, Ohio Sens. Rob Portman (R) and Sherrod Brown (D) said in a letter to Pritzker (here). As soon as the Commerce Department assessed cash deposits in July in connection with its preliminary affirmative AD “critical circumstances” determination that large residential washers made by Samsung and LG from China were being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value (see 1607250010), Samsung reportedly started to move its washing machine production to Vietnam and Thailand, to avoid duties on Chinese washers, Portman and Brown wrote. The senators urged Commerce to uphold “critical circumstances” in its final determination, and to use any other available tool to address the trend of “serial dumping” and duty evasion.
The National Association of Manufacturers took issue with several areas in CBP's interim rule for antidumping and countervailing duty evasion allegations (see 1608190014), the trade group said in comments to CBP (here). The association "believes that many aspects of the interim rules need to be strengthened to meet the legislative requirements and effectively ensure transparent, full and fair enforcement of U.S. trade-remedy laws," it said. Among other issues, NAM voiced concerns over the lack of administrative protective orders (APOs), something that others have mentioned to CBP as worrisome (see 1610140044).
Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is “extremely disappointed” in CBP’s decision not to pursue an investigation in response to an allegation filed by Wheatland Tube of antidumping or countervailing duty evasion on steel pipe from China, a spokesperson from Portman’s office said in an Oct. 25 email. A congressional staffer said Portman is “in touch” with Wheatland, which last week said it intended to follow up with Portman and Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., regarding CBP’s “lack of proper implementation of the act” (see 1610190029). Those senators were substantially involved in pushing the inclusion of Enforce and Protect Act provisions creating a new CBP AD/CV duty evasion process within the recently enacted customs reauthorization law. “Petitioners should not have to produce a smoking gun before CBP will investigate claims of duty evasion,” Portman’s spokesperson said. “The Senator is committed to continuing to work ... with CBP to ensure the ENFORCE Act is implemented and followed correctly." CBP and Wyden’s office didn’t comment.
Nepal supplied less than 0.05 percent of total U.S. imports of textiles and apparel in 2015, according to an International Trade Commission report on import sensitivity of certain products in the category from that country (here). U.S. imports from the country within the 66 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) subheadings reviewed fell 7 percent between May 2015 and May 2016, the agency said. The report covered products including certain luggage, handbags, pocket goods, travel bags, carpets and textile floor coverings, scarves, blankets, hats and gloves. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative requested the report, which also found the U.S. didn’t import products belonging to 20 of the HTS subheadings under review. In July, USTR requested a World Trade Organization waiver to allow it to implement a program authorized by recently enacted customs reauthorization legislation that would give duty-free treatment to certain products from Nepal (see 1606290042). USTR didn’t comment.
CBP 's interim regulations for investigating allegations of antidumping or countervailing duty evasion diminish the effect of the new law by limiting what information is released publicly, the Southern Shrimp Alliance said in comments to CBP (here). "The results of CBP’s investigations will provide invaluable assistance to the trade community in recognizing and avoiding evasion schemes and will improve the informed compliance of importers and other supply chain participants," it said. "But these benefits will only be enjoyed if CBP issues public notices of its actions." The agency has received and responded to at least one allegation since the interim rules went into effect (see 1610190029).
In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted (here):
The EU and the U.S. advanced Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership language on cargo release, single-window development and data requirements during the latest negotiations in New York Oct. 3-7, according to a European Commission (EC) summary of the latest talks (here). Discussions of the 15th round also “touched upon” joint development of trusted trader programs and harmonization of data requirements. Work also continued on procedures for temporary admission of goods and customs treatment of goods returned after repair (see 1608040025), according to the summary. While the EU and U.S. have completed the bulkiest negotiations on tariff elimination on industrial products, the parties in New York also discussed increasing the number of tariff lines to become duty-free upon entry into force the EC, said.
A company that undertakes substantial post-entry work on imported equipment but doesn't hold the title to the goods can still have the right to make entry, CBP said in a recently released ruling (here), dated Aug. 24. The companies involved in the ruling were granted confidential treatment, meaning some information, including company names, was redacted in the ruling. A lawyer for the companies, Joseph Acayan of Givens and Johnston in Houston, requested the ruling from CBP on whether one of the companies has enough financial interest for the right to make entry.