CBP released the quarterly IRS interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts (underpayments) and refunds (overpayments) of customs duties. For the quarter that began Oct. 1, the interest rate for overpayments is 7% for corporations and 8% for non-corporations. The rate for underpayments is 8% for both corporations and non-corporations. That's up from the previous quarter, when rates were 6% for overpayments for corporations, 7% for overpayments for non-corporations, and 7% for underpayments (see 2307050040).
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.
Aluminum extrusions from 14 more countries -- as well as additional types of aluminum extrusions from China -- face the imposition of antidumping and countervailing duties after a U.S. producer coalition and a labor union filed petitions for new AD/CVD investigations with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission on Oct. 4.
A U.S. manufacturer seeks the imposition of new antidumping duties on aluminum lithographic printing plates from China and Japan and countervailing duties on the same product from China, it said in petitions filed last week with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CVD orders and the assessment of AD/CVD on importers. The investigations were requested by Eastman Kodak Company.
The sole member of the Ways and Means Committee who sits on the House Select Committee on China, along with the committee's chairman, are asking the Department of Homeland Security to brief them on how it's investigating allegations of trade fraud, and to allay their concerns that customs fraud is not being enforced.
New Jersey jewelry company 21st Millennium and two individuals "who own or control the business," Iqbal Virani and Aqib Virani, admitted to evading customs duties on gold jewelry imports, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced. Per the terms of a settlement agreement, the company and the two owners also agreed to pay $1 million to the U.S. after admitting to evading over $400,000 in customs duties.
The Commerce Department looks set to recognize the name change of a South Korean company for the purposes of antidumping duties on certain corrosion-resistant steel products (CORE) (A-580-878) from South Korea. The agency preliminarily found that post-corporate reorganization Dongkuk Coated Metal Co., Ltd. (Dongkuk CM) is the successor-in-interest to the pre-reorganization Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd. entity (Old Dongkuk Steel), in the preliminary results of a changed circumstances review. The agency preliminarily found Dongkuk CM continues to operate as the same business entity. The company explained that the spin-off of two business units in the reorganization and other moves did not affect the management or internal organization structure, production, supplier relationships or customer base of the CORE products business. If Commerce confirms its finding in the final results, Dongkuk CM may inherit the AD rates assigned to Old Dongkuk Steel in the AD review.
Even though thousands of CBP employees will be required to work without pay to clear cargo in the case of a government shutdown on Sunday, importers are preparing for problems, since they have experienced them in previous shutdowns.
CBP should create a new alert in ACE when importers of merchandise potentially subject to antidumping and countervailing duties may be required to submit a certification that their goods are not subject merchandise, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee said in a recommendation adopted at its quarterly public meeting on Sept. 20.
Liquidation may not be final in cases where CBP is "acting at the behest of another agency," law firm Neville Peterson said in a Sept. 13 blog post commenting on the Court of International Trade's ruling in AM/NS Calvert v. U.S. In that decision, the trade court entries subject to Section 232 steel and aluminum duties may not be final, given that the case contests the applications of product-specific exclusions granted by the Commerce Department and not by CBP (see 2309070037).
An author of Fighting Trade Cheats, a bill that would create a private right of action for customs fraud and hike penalties for both fraud and gross negligence, said a customs modernization package could be a vehicle for his bill to become law.