German company KingKong-Tools GmbH & Co KG, along with its American subsidiary King Kong Tools, will pay $1.9 million to resolve allegations of customs fraud, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced. The office alleged that King Kong falsely said its tool imports were made in Germany when they were made in China, misrepresenting their country of origin in violation of the False Claims Act.
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.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Nov. 6-12, 13-19 and 20-26:
The current scope of ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on aluminum extrusions from 15 countries would impose heavy costs on U.S. manufacturers and consumers, and as written would make it nearly impossible for CBP to administer and importers to comply, said a bevy of large multinational corporations and trade associations in comments filed recently filed with the Commerce Department.
CBP has been threatening ports that it will reduce its presence or even pull out of ports if those ports don't upgrade work space, members of Congress say, and a recently introduced bipartisan bill aims to put a stop to it.
The Commerce Department issued notices in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador (A-331-805) and Indonesia (A-560-842), and its countervailing duty investigations on frozen warmwater shrimp from Ecuador (C-331-806), India (C-533-921), Indonesia (C-560-843) and Vietnam (A-552-838). The CVD investigations cover entries for the calendar year 2022. The AD investigations cover entries Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet Dec. 13 remotely and in Washington, D.C., CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by Dec. 8.
The Commerce Department issued a Federal Register notice on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigation on truck and bus tires from Thailand (A-549-848). The agency will determine whether imports of Thai truck and bus tires are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. The investigation covers entries from Thailand during the period Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023.
A recently introduced Senate bill that would impose an import pollution fee likely violates World Trade Organization rules, Simon Lester, former legal affairs officer at the WTO Appellate Body Secretariat, said in a blog post.
Under a newly introduced bill imposing a pollution fee, importers of record would have to pay a tax based on the percentage of the value of the imported good and calculated on the difference between the pollution intensity of that good's production in the country it's manufactured in and domestic production.
Comments are due Nov. 13 to the Commerce Department on the scope of coverage of its newly begun antidumping duty investigations on aluminum extrusions from China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam (A-570-158, A-301-806, A-247-004, A-331-804, A-533-920, A-560-840, A-475-846, A-580- 918, A-557-826, A-201-860, A-583-874, A-549-847, A-489-850, A-520-810, A-552-837), and countervailing duty investigations on aluminum extrusions from China, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey (C-570-159, C-560-841, C-201-861, C-489-851).