NEWPORT, R.I. -- CBP and other federal agencies are “not as strong as we need to be” in terms of trade enforcement posture, said Todd Owen, CBP assistant commissioner for the Office of Field Operations (OFO) on March 31. Owen spoke at Northeast Trade and Transportation conference hosted by the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade. Such enforcement is an area “where we need to do a better job” and will be a priority for Owen going forward, he said.
Tim Warren
Timothy Warren is Executive Managing Editor of Communications Daily. He previously led the International Trade Today editorial team from the time it was purchased by Warren Communications News in 2012 through the launch of Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. Tim is a 2005 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids.
CBP and other government agencies are working to continue a trend of increased trade enforcement, said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske on March 24 while speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Since fiscal year 2011, trade penalty assessments have increased by 140 percent up to $900 million in FY2014, he said. CBP and the new ICE director Sarah Saldaña will work together to increase training and review the processes for targeting counterfeit goods, said Kerlikowske.
The Department of Homeland Security is working on a "Time Release Study" meant to "assess baseline metrics" for its work on an International Trade Data System, said DHS Under Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a letter to U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas Donohue (here). Mayorkas, who is the chair of the Border Interagency Executive Committee, wrote to Donohue in response to an industry letter that asked that ITDS is kept as a priority at DHS (see 1501210011). The group of trade associations in January urged the agency to work aggressively to meet the 2016 completion deadline created by a 2014 executive order (see 14021928).
CBP correctly liquidated an entry within the required six-month timeframe that starts on the day after the "triggering event," CBP said in a further review of protest on Sept. 12 (here). The protest, filed by Coaster Corporation of America, was in response to CBP's liquidation of an entry of wooden bedroom furniture from China that the company said was too late. The newly released ruling, HQ H173819, is one of several recent rulings on CBP's interpretation of "deemed liquidation." One such ruling is the subject of a court challenge (see 1410200053).
An entry of Chinese wooden furniture, subsequently found to be subject to higher antidumping duties, included a mistakenly used importer of record (IOR) number due to a clerical error, said a CBP ruling (here). As a result, the protest should be granted, said CBP headquarters in the further review of protest. The Nov. 24 ruling, HQ H175077, involves C.H. Robinson and Starcorp Furniture, two companies that were both part of a somewhat similar situation that resulted in a controversial CBP ruling (see 1501290028). That ruling is now the subject of two lawsuits (see 1502190058).
In the March 11 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 49, No. 10), CBP published notices that propose to modify or revoke rulings and similar treatment for the tariff classification of lighted penguin sculptures and computer headsets (here).
CBP recently contacted members of the Importer Self-Assessment program asking that the companies perform a self-assessment to determine whether Chinese furniture was imported that falls within a recent Commerce Department scope ruling, said Ted Murphy, a lawyer with Baker & Mckenzie. The letter, dated Feb. 12, raises some question as to CBP's authority to request specific self-assessments for ISA members, said Murphy in a blog post (here). The letter from Therese Randazzo, CBP director in the Commercial Operations and Entry division, comes in response to a Commerce Department ruling last year that found Ethan Allen wooden chests from China to be subject to antidumping duties (see 14060403).
In the March 4 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 49, No. 9) (here), CBP published notices that propose to revoke rulings and similar treatment for the tariff classification of rain boots and children's tape.
Starbucks must pay duties on the packaging of the company's Tazo brand tea, said CBP in a Dec. 17 ruling (here). The ruling, HQ H254133, was in response to an internal advice request with the Agriculture Center of Excellence and Expertise. Starbucks sought agency input on whether the packaging materials for single servings of Tazo tea should be separately classifiable from the tea. Tazo Tea consists of tea that is flavored with various ingredients and then packaged in single-serve tea bags for retail sale.
A Department of Homeland Security funding lapse will not stop "front line cargo operations" and import and entry specialists will continue to review entries during that time, said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske. Kerlikowske discussed the looming shutdown, a result of a fight over DHS funding in congress, with members of the trade industry and reporters in a Feb. 26 call. Despite going without a paycheck during the shutdown, CBP personnel will also be available to answer questions for importers and brokers, he said. DHS funding will stop Feb. 28 unless congress allocates more funding before then.