Importers should be reviewing existing tariff classifications for their products and planning ahead for major changes to the tariff schedule that will take effect Jan. 1 when the U.S. implements 2022 changes to the global Harmonized System, Flexport’s Adam Dambrov said during a Sept. 15 webinar. Particularly affected by the changes are goods of chapters 44, 84 and 85, with some changes to chapter notes also resulting in changes for textiles and apparel.
Brian Feito
Brian Feito is Managing Editor of International Trade Today, Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. A licensed customs broker who spent time at the Department of Commerce calculating antidumping and countervailing duties, Brian covers a wide range of subjects including customs and trade-facing product regulation, the courts, antidumping and countervailing duties and Mexico and the European Union. Brian is a graduate of the University of Florida and George Mason University. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2012.
The Commerce Department will change its scope ruling procedures so that entries prior to the initiation of the scope inquiry are normally subject to suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements, but in a change from a 2020 proposal, will allow for requests to suspend liquidation at a later date, it said in a final rule amending its antidumping and countervailing duty regulations released Sept. 16.
Craft dowels from Greenbrier International and Family Dollar Services are covered by antidumping and countervailing duties on wood mouldings and millwork from China (A-570-117/C-570-118), the Commerce Department said in a Sept. 7 scope ruling. Dowels are named in the scope as subject merchandise, and no exemption exists for wood products used in arts and crafts, Commerce said.
CBP is ending a forced labor finding on disposable gloves made by Top Glove in Malaysia, after finding the company submitted enough evidence that its disposable gloves are no longer being made with forced labor, CBP said in a notice. Effective on the notice’s date of publication, scheduled for Sept. 10, disposable gloves made by Top Glove in Malaysia will no longer be subject to detention, seizure and forfeiture under the forced labor finding.
Panels need only two layers of veneer to be subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on hardwood plywood from China (A-570-051/C-570-052), the Commerce Department said in a preliminary scope ruling issued Aug. 26. Chinese two-ply panels processed into plywood in Vietnam by adding face and back veneers, then exported by Finewood Company Limited, a Vietnamese exporter implicated in an Enforce and Protect Act evasion investigation, are still of Chinese origin after the processing and are covered by AD/CV duties, Commerce said. Comments are due on or about Sept. 15.
Operations including the oiling of a machine, the fitting of a transformer to adjust electrical voltage and the uploading of software patches to a machine tool do not constitute manufacturing or use, and do not render the machine tool ineligible for unused merchandise drawback, CBP said in a recent ruling. The operations do not transform the machine tools into a new product, but merely make them operational for the end customer, CBP told Knuth Machine in HQ H290897, issued July 28 and publicly released Aug. 26.
Aluminum alloy stamped circular disc blanks imported by Sunbeam for subsequent pressing into cookware are not subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on common alloy aluminum sheet from China (A-570-073/C-570-074), said the Commerce Department in a scope ruling filed Aug. 23. The scope of the AD/CVD orders covers aluminum sheet in coils or cut-to-length, not steel stamped or punched into non-rectangular shapes prior to export from China, Commerce said.
CBP announced a two-year extension of its Section 321 data pilot, through August 2023, in a notice released Aug. 27. “CBP will extend the test for another two years to continue further evaluation of the 321 Data Pilot program and the risks associated with section 321 shipments,” it said. The pilot is still “limited to a maximum of nine participants,” said CBP, which has said it intends to expand the pilot to more participants (see 2108040012).
The Commerce Department made a preliminary affirmative antidumping determination that oil country tubular goods (OCTG) from Ukraine (A-823-815) are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. As a result, Commerce is directing CBP to suspend liquidation and require cash deposits of estimated AD duties on OCTG from Ukraine for all subject merchandise entered July 10, 2019, through June 30, 2020.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is moving forward with an expansion of its import program to focus on e-commerce and de minimis shipments, said Jim Joholske, director of CPSC’s Office of Import Surveillance, at CBP’s Virtual Trade Week July 22. Recent increases in funding for the agency means CPSC now has the resources to focus on small shipments, and will allow CPSC to staff express carrier, air cargo and international mail facilities with import personnel, he said.