“Significant changes are imminent” for brokers that deal with duty-free entries under government military contracts through the Defense Contract Management Agency, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed alert. Beginning Jan. 14, customs brokers no longer will have access to a portal in the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) to download the duty-free certification required for entry filing, the NCBFAA said. Instead, they’ll access duty-free entry “via a tokenized email,” the trade group said. While the process after the email is received “appears to be user friendly,” it’s still unclear how the broker will get the email and whether it will be timely sent, the NCBFAA said.
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 January 2023 update to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule included several fixes not listed in the change record to resolve technical issues with the final update of 2022 (see 2301030052), according to an International Trade Commission staffer. Revision 12, released in November, had various technical problems due to the deployment of added security features in the data management system, which were not fully compatible with the underlying software. These comparability issues led to omissions, including the elimination of a table of additional duty rates on sugar-containing articles under 9904.17 and an expiration date column in subchapter II of Chapter 99. The HTS system has experienced issues when the custom-built system receives significant updates, the staff member said, but enhancements currently are in the works.
A U.S. manufacturer seeks the imposition of new antidumping duties on gas powered pressure washers from China and Vietnam and countervailing duties on the same product from China, it said in petitions filed Dec. 29 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 FNA Group.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top 20 stories published in 2022. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference numbers.
The Commerce Department set the 12-month 2022 value-added tariff preference level for certain apparel imported directly from Haiti eligible to receive duty-free treatment under the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership Encouragement Act (HOPE). For the one-year period Dec. 20, 2022, through Dec. 19, 2023, the recalculated quantity of imports eligible for preferential treatment under the value-added TPL is 412,506,163 square meters equivalent (SME). Apparel articles entered in excess of this TPL will be subject to otherwise applicable duty rates.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Dec. 5-11 and Dec. 12-18:
The Department of Commerce preliminarily determined that certain types of truck wheels that Asia Wheel manufactures in its facilities in Thailand and exports to the U.S. are subject to the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on certain steel wheels 22.5 to 24.5 inches in diameter from China, according to a Dec. 13 preliminary scope ruling.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
One Chinese company and three companies based in New Jersey and New York settled charges with the U.S. related to a customs avoidance scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced. The companies agreed to pay fines ranging from $5,000 to $500,000 to settle violations relating to the False Claims Act, "among other statutes."
The Commerce Department’s recent preliminary determination that Southeast Asian solar cells and panels are circumventing antidumping and countervailing duties (see 2212020064) left several questions unanswered, and lawyers for the Solar Energy Industries Association hope the agency will clarify these issues as the case proceeds to its final determinations, they said during a webinar Dec. 13.