CBP Rejects Importer’s AD Protest Over Timing of Port of Entry

CBP properly assessed antidumping duties on an entry of quartz surface products from China, the agency said, rejecting a protest from a U.S. importer that argued its products entered the port before a U.S. antidumping duty order took effect. CBP, in a ruling dated Jan. 25, said even though the products reached the initial port in Los Angeles before the order, they didn’t reach their final port of entry in Dallas until later, which made them subject to the AD order.

Best Cheer Stone, the company that filed the protest, submitted its CBP Form 3461 on Nov. 15, 2018, and listed Nov. 14 as its entry date. The import arrived at the Port of L.A. on Nov. 16 and was then transported to the Port of Dallas, the port of entry, where it was released from CBP custody on Nov. 24. CBP said the AD order on quartz surface products from China took effect Nov. 20 -- after the arrival of the products in the Port of L.A. but before they were released from CBP custody in Dallas.

The importer, in its July 2021 protest, argued that its goods were entered for consumption before the order was imposed, pointing to the Nov. 14 entry date it had listed in its Form 3461. Best Cheer Stone's argument centered on 19 C.F.R. § 141.68(a)(3), which says the date of entry is when the “documents comprising the entry for consumption” have been "deposited with the appropriate customs officer,” CBP said.

But CBP said the merchandise “must arrive within port limits for this subsection to apply,” and that port was in Dallas, not L.A. The agency pointed to 19 C.F.R. § 141.68(e), saying that merchandise won't be authorized for release until it has arrived within port limits "with the intent to unlade." An entry “cannot legally be deemed ‘filed or presented’ until the subject merchandise arrives at the port where it will be unladen and entered,” CBP said.

The agency said it has made similar decisions in previous rulings, including in a case last year covering the same merchandise. In that case, the quartz arrived at the Port of L.A. before being transferred to the Port of Atlanta, and the importer argued that the “relevant dates of entry” occurred when the merchandise arrived in L.A. CBP rejected that argument, ruling that the entry documentation showed that the port of entry and “actual destination port” was in Atlanta, and “the earliest possible entry date was the date that the merchandise arrived at the Port of Atlanta, notwithstanding” the earlier time the importer had listed.

“Thus, we have consistently determined that merchandise cannot be entered until it arrives within the port limits at the port of entry,” CBP said, “at which point any applicable ADD would be due.”

Best Cheer Stone didn't respond to our request for comment.