The thousands of complaints seeking to vacate the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs on Chinese goods and have the duties refunded warrant the Court of International Trade assigning the litigation to a three-judge panel instead of a single judge, Akin Gump said Sept. 30 on behalf of importers HMTX Industries and Jasco Products, in a court filing. The Department of Justice told Akin Gump it opposes the motion and will file a response, it 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.
A multinational engineering company will pay more than $22.2 million to resolve a False Claims Act whistleblower lawsuit related to the evasion of customs and antidumping and countervailing duties. Germany-based Linde GmbH and its U.S. affiliate, Linde Engineering North America, allegedly misrepresented the nature, classification, and valuation of imported merchandise, as well as the applicability of free trade agreements, so as not to pay tariffs, the Department of Justice said in a Sept. 25 news release.
The Commerce Department on Sept. 25 released its quarterly list of (i) completed antidumping and countervailing duty scope rulings and (ii) anticircumvention determinations. The following list covers completed scope and anticircumvention rulings for the period April 1, 2020, through June 30, 2020:
Unfinished tapered roller bearings imported by Precision Components that have been green machined but not heat treated are subject to antidumping duties on tapered roller bearings from China (A-570-601), the Commerce Department said in a scope ruling issued in June. The scope of the AD duty order covers both finished and unfinished tapered roller bearings, and the non-heat treated tapered roller bearings imported by Precision Components are destined to become tapered roller bearings after further processing, Commerce said. They have the same physical characteristics, end use, customer expectations, channels of trade and means of advertising as other unfinished tapered roller bearings covered by the AD duty order, Commerce said.
Importers and domestic producers predictably clashed over the Commerce Department’s recently proposed changes to its antidumping and countervailing duty regulations (see 2008120037), in comments recently submitted to the agency. While domestic industry urged Commerce to move forward with the changes, importers challenged proposed changes to liquidation timelines in scope inquiries, as well as tighter deadlines that they said make it harder to defend from AD/CVD cases.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Sept 23. The following headquarters ruling was modified recently, according to CBP:
Whether the deadline has passed for court challenges to lists 3 and 4 of Section 301 tariffs of goods from China continues to be in question, lawyers following the case have said. While some have pegged the deadline to Sept. 21 based on a two-year statute of limitations from when the List 3 tariffs were published in the Federal Register (see 2009160056), other factors remain in play. Filing sooner rather than later is seen as preferable, the lawyers said.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Sept 18. The following headquarters ruling was modified recently, according to CBP:
Customs brokers and a trade attorney urged trade professionals to work with their importers now to prepare for enforcement of USMCA next year. Monica DeMars, manager of corporate customs for C.H. Robinson, told attendees at a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference session on Sept. 18 that when CBP begins enforcing USMCA, it will look at July-December entries from this year, not just start enforcing prospectively.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet Oct. 7, remotely, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by Oct. 6. The COAC will hear from the following subcommittees on the topics listed below and then will review, deliberate and formulate recommendations on how to proceed on those topics: