Importer Sun Ray Group and its owner, Jihua "Mike" Liu, face over $15 million in penalties for alleged fraud and lying on customs forms and underpayment duties on vegetable entries. A complaint at the Court of International Trade filed Dec. 6 by the DOJ says that Liu and Sun Ray avoided duties on 216 entries of dried and dehydrated garlic, onion and other vegetables, and also owe nearly $2 million in unpaid duties (United States v. Jihua "Mike" Liu, CIT #22-00330).
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.
Colorado-based Ellab Inc. and its Danish parent company, Ellab A/S, paid the U.S. over $700,000 to settle charges that it failed to pay customs duties on imports of thermal validation equipment, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced Dec. 1. The U.S. alleged Ellab failed to classify its imports and properly declare their value, neglecting to pay the full amount of the duties owed on the goods.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will not move forward with a proposal under the 21st Century Customs Framework (21CCF) to make ocean vessel manifest data automatically confidential, according to a report from the 21CCF task force released by the COAC Nov. 28. The provision is one of several listed by the task force in the report that the COAC will no longer advance after recent discussions with CBP.
The early submissions to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on whether the 7.5% and 25% tariffs on Chinese goods should continue were heavily against continuing the action. More than 90% of the 27 submissions either said end all the tariffs or urged dropping the ones that affect businesses or workers.
The Commerce Department on Nov. 18 released its quarterly list of (i) completed antidumping and countervailing duty scope rulings and (ii) anti-circumvention determinations. The following list covers completed scope rulings for the period July 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2022:
CBP's Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will next meet Dec. 7 in College Park, Maryland, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by Dec. 2.
The Commerce Department issued notices in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on paper file folders from China, India and Vietnam (A-570-147, A-533-910, A-552-834), and its countervailing duty investigation on the same product from India (C-533-911). The CV duty investigation covers entries Jan. 1, 2021, through Dec. 31, 2021. The AD duty investigations on China and Vietnam cover entries April 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2022, and the AD duty investigation on India covers the period Oct. 1, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2022.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Commerce Department issued Federal Register notices on its recently initiated antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on freight rail couplers from China (A-570-145/C-570-146) and an antidumping duty investigation on freight rail couplers from Mexico (A-201-857). The agency will determine whether imports of sodium nitrite are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value or are illegally subsidized.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: