The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notices on Aug. 8:
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., formally unveiled a widely anticipated bipartisan bill Aug. 8 that would restrict foreign goods from eligibility for de minimis shipments.
Wisconsin companies Precision Cable Assemblies and Global Engineered Products, along with their chief executives Ryan Schmus and Richard Horky, paid more than $10 million to settle charges they avoided millions of dollars in customs duties on Chinese goods, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced.
Three wildlife advocacy groups took to the Court of International Trade on Aug. 8 to contest the collective failure of the Commerce, Treasury and Homeland Security departments and the National Marine Fisheries Service to ban fish or fish products exported from fisheries that don't meet U.S. bycatch standards under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) (Natural Resources Defense Council v. Gina Raimondo, CIT # 24-00148).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Once accelerated payment for USMCA drawback claims becomes available Aug. 20 (see 2408050055), users requesting it for eligible unliquidated claims currently on file with CBP must contact the filing office directly and request the claim be returned to trade control, CBP said in an Aug. 8 CSMS update. The claimant will be required to resubmit the claim with the AP request, CBP said.
CBP announced the calendar year 2024 tariff rate quota for tuna in airtight containers. It said 15,226,726 kilograms of tuna in airtight containers may be entered and withdrawn from warehouse for consumption during 2024, at the rate of 6% under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 1604.14.22. Any such tuna that is entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption during the current calendar year in excess of this quota will be dutiable at the rate of 12.5% under HTS subheading 1604.14.30.
The Court of International Trade on Aug. 8 said anti-forced labor advocacy group International Rights Advocates (IRAdvocates) doesn't have standing to challenge CBP's inaction in responding to a petition to ban cocoa from Cote d'Ivoire. Judge Claire Kelly said IRAdvocates failed to show that CBP's inaction "has harmed a core business or diminished any asset."
DHS has added five more entries to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, bringing the total up to 73 entities flagged by U.S. officials for allegedly using forced labor by Uyghurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).
Five Chinese companies have been added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) Entity List, according to a notice released Aug. 8. The entities are: Kashgar Construction Engineering, Xinjiang Habahe Ashele Copper (also known as Ashele Copper), Xinjiang Tengxiang Magnesium Products; Century Sunshine Group Holdings; and Rare Earth Magnesium Technology Group Holdings. Under UFLPA, CBP applies a rebuttable presumption that goods mined, produced or manufactured by entities on the UFLPA Entity List are made with forced labor and prohibited from importation. The listings take effect Aug. 9.