CBP to Deactivate Some Section 232 Exclusions at 95% to Avoid Exceeding Limits

CBP will on Feb. 15 begin deactivating some Section 232 exclusions when they reach 95% of capacity, addressing concerns in a recent Government Accountability Office report that duties were going unpaid because the agency was letting importers exceed their exclusion limits (see 2307210064).

In a CSMS message Jan. 5, CBP said it will “deactivate Section 232 exclusions in ACE on a weekly basis when the imported quantity for each exclusion is greater than or equal to 95 percent of the allocated quantity. This is a change from the current practice of deactivating Section 232 exclusions when the imported quantity of each exclusion reaches or exceeds 100 percent of the allocated quantity.”

The new policy will apply for exclusions for non-quota countries (i.e., those that haven’t reached a quota deal to avoid Section 232 tariffs); exclusions for EU countries that are subject to Section 232 steel tariff-rate quotas; and exclusions valid for multiple countries subject to both Section 232 tariffs and quotas.

Once any Section 232 exclusions are deactivated in ACE, importers no longer will be able to use the exclusions on "new entry summaries and will have to deposit the appropriate Section 232 duties on any new entry summaries,” CBP said.

Importers may still benefit from the exclusions after the 95% threshold is reached by filing a post-summary correction, CBP said. “When certain exclusions are deactivated at less than 100 percent of the quantity, importers can choose to file a Post Summary Correction (PSC) to claim the remaining exclusion amounts and request a refund of any Section 232 duties paid,” the agency said.

However, for exclusions that are valid for multiple countries subject to both Section 232 and quota, the PSCs may only be submitted for the Section 232 countries or EU steel TRQs to “claim the remaining exclusion quantity amounts,” CBP said.

“All other Section 232 exclusions will remain at the 100 percent threshold for deactivation,” CBP said. “These other exclusions cannot be deactivated at less than 100 percent because importers are not able to use a PSC in ACE to claim the remaining exclusion amounts.”