Aeronautical Control Box, Reimported Unchanged, Wrongly Classified as Foreign Good, Importer Says

An importer of airplane parts brought a complaint to the Court of International Trade on Aug. 31, saying that an aeronautical control box produced in Illinois and imported to Japan should have been classified as an American good, not a Japanese one (Aeronautical Systems, Inc. v. U.S., CIT # 20-00157).

Importer Aeronautical Systems said the box was manufactured by American corporation Hamilton Sundstrand. The product was exported to Mikuni Corporation in Japan “without the benefit of drawback,” and while in Japan, it “was not advanced in value or condition,” it said.

However, when the box was reimported in 2019, CBP liquidated the control box under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8540, which carried a 15% duty. The box should have been classified under heading 9901, which covers “Products of the United States when returned after having been exported, or any other products when returned within 3 years having been exported, without having been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means while abroad,” it said.

It asked the trade court to order reliquidation of the box under HTS heading 9901.