As this year’s deadline for applications for the Voluntary Qualified importer Program approaches, formal interest in the Food and Drug Administration’s trusted trader scheme for food importers is nearly non-existent, despite high hopes from the agency when it was announced several years ago. Unclear benefits, a high cost of participation and a multitude of barriers to entry are among several issues keeping importers away, experts on importing food say.
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 following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 30 - April 5:
Doorknobs with keyed, thumbturn locks are classifiable as knobs, not locks, in the tariff schedule, the Court of International Trade said in a March 26 decision that was publicly released April 2. After being directed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to treat the door hardware as composite goods (see 1902190036), CIT found that the knobs give the hardware sets their essential character, classifying them in Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) heading 8502.
An importer has filed suit at the Court of International Trade, challenging the now-lifted Section 232 tariffs on aluminum products from Canada and Mexico. Koch Supply & Trading says that President Donald Trump violated the timelines in Section 232 when he imposed the tariffs at the beginning of June 2018 (see 1805310028). Koch also says CBP improperly denied its protest, and that the tariffs are unconstitutional.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 23-29:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will begin enforcing Lacey Act import declaration requirements on 29 new tariff lines on Oct. 1, 2020, it said in a notice. Products newly covered by the Lacey At requirements include essential oils in chapter 33; trunks, cases and suitcases in chapter 42; oriented strand board and wooden containers and pallets in chapter 44; musical instruments in chapter 92; and monopods, bipods, tripods and similar articles of wood in chapter 96.
The Commerce Department is proposing to expand steel import licensing requirements to cover more steel products and require more information to be submitted to obtain the licenses, it said. The agency’s proposed rule would also indefinitely extend the expiration date of the program, which had previously been renewed every four years and was set to expire in 2022, by removing provisions on the program’s expiration from the regulations.
The president has the authority to modify Section 232 tariffs after their initial implementation, and acted within that authority when he issued new tariffs on aluminum and steel “derivatives” that took effect in February, the Justice Department said in a brief filed March 20 that seeks dismissal of a lawsuit filed by PrimeSource.
Importers of medical equipment face pitfalls responding to the explosion in demand for their products as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Ben England of FDAImports.com, who spoke by phone interview March 25. The requirements of some emergency actions taken by FDA can be difficult or impossible to navigate, and the huge increase in demand for medical products, including protective equipment and ventilators, is a recipe for fraud, potentially creating unwelcome surprises for importers at the border, England said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 16-22: