Importer Files CIT Complaint to Obtain AD/CVD Refunds on Wire Rod

CBP has unlawfully withheld antidumping duty refunds on tire cord quality wire rod from South Korea for years after the Commerce Department rescinded the order and required refunds, Kiswire Inc. (KI) said in an Oct. 12 complaint at the Court of International Trade (Kiswire Inc. v. United States, CIT # 22-00285).

KI imported the grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod between Sept. 5 and Sept. 28, 2018. At the time of import, the rod was subject to an AD order and CBP collected cash deposits of 41.10% on the wire rod at entry.

While the entries were ongoing, the U.S. wire rod industry requested that Commerce conduct a changed circumstances review and in April 2019, the department revoked the AD order retroactive to entries made after May 21, 2018. Commerce directed CBP to terminate the suspension of liquidation “for all shipments of grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod ... on or after 5/21/2018 ... ."

In its complaint to CIT, KI argued that CBP did not issue instructions to importers addressing how to collect refunds for the revoked antidumping duties. According to KI, its broker sent several messages to CBP requesting instructions. CBP allegedly told the broker personally to wait for further instructions but never responded officially. KI said that after months of inaction by CBP and at the suggestion of their Korean supplier, the company filed post summary corrections in December 2019 to reflect the entry type change from AD/CVD-applicable to non-AD/CVD and provided CBP with end-use certifications.

Throughout 2020, CBP processed the post summary corrections on 11 other transactions and issued refunds but continued to take no action on the remaining entries. On April 15, 2021, CBP denied the remainder of the PSCs filed for KI's entries. A CBP supervisory import specialist advised KI's broker that the entries “are in fact suspended and have not been deemed liquidated by operation of law.”

On March 16, 2022, KI protested CBP’s failure to refund the duties. The protest was denied as having been untimely filed, with CBP arguing that the entries subject to the protest had not yet liquidated as not all material was removed from the warehouse. KI again filed protest in June after submitting documentation to CBP demonstrating that all material had been withdrawn from the warehouse. CBP did not respond and so the protest was deemed denied on July 29.

Following the second protest denial, KI filed suit at CIT. In its complaint, KI said that CBP advised the company multiple times that its entries had not been deemed liquidated and that they remained suspended pending further instructions from Commerce. Two of the entries continued to show as suspended due to ongoing AD administrative reviews, despite the fact that the corresponding warehouse entry reports a deemed liquidation date of Oct. 8, 2019. Kiswire said that the inconsistent treatment of similar entries amounts to "arbitrary and capricious" behavior by CBP, citing the 11 other entries from the same time period that had duties paid refunded. The company asked the court to order CBP to refund the AD cash deposits paid on the entries plus interest.