US to Appeal CIT's Enforcement of 6-Year Statute of Limitations on Customs Bond Collections

The U.S. will appeal an August Court of International Trade decision finding that the statute of limitations for CBP to collect on customs bonds runs six years from the date of the underlying entry's liquidation and not from the date that CBP demanded payment. Per the notice of appeal, the government will take the suit to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (United States v. American Home Assurance Co., CIT # 20-00175).

In the opinion, Judge Richard Eaton said that the govenrment's decade of inaction before attempting to collect almost $400,000 in unpaid duties from surety firm American Home Assurance Co. meant it was barred from alleging AHAC was in breach of the eight single transaction bonds (see 2308220054).

Following the decision, questions swirled as to whether the U.S. would in fact appeal the decision and be content demanding payment on decades-old bonds from sureties, though the Oct. 16 notice puts the questions to bed. The U.S. has previously declined to appeal multiple adverse rulings regarding China's Export Buyer's Credit Program in countervailing duty cases, presumably to avoid a precedential decision against it (see 2308310036).