CBP Cannot Require Protests for Retroactive Section 301 Refunds, Importer Tells Trade Court

Importers do not need to file protests as a prerequisite for gaining refunds on excluded Section 301 duties, Environment One Corporation said in a complaint filed April 15 with the Court of International Trade. The complaint asks the court to order refunds of Section 301 duties on entries that were "ordered retroactively excluded" from the China 301 duties and to declare the government's requirement that importers seek refunds via protest to be in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Protest Statute itself.

CBP "exceeded [its] authority under the trade act and in all other ways in interposing the Protest Statute," despite the statute "applying only to certain enumerated CBP decisions," Environment One said. Specifically, the government does not have the authority to require protests as a prerequisite to qualifying for Section 301 refunds on goods retroactively excluded from the duties after liquidation and expiration of the protest period, it said. "USTR allowed CBP to use the Protest Statute ... to prevent [Environment One] from recovering refunds that the USTR had ordered."

Environment One says it timely filed protests on some of the entries despite its argument that those protests were unnecessary, while on others it filed protests past the 180-day deadline and on some others it filed no protest at all. The importer seeks refunds with interest of Section 301 duties paid on retroactively excluded items plus attorney fees.