The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) made several trade-related recommendations in its 2014 report to Congress (here). The 11 trade recommendations, among 48 total recommendations, address several controversial issues, including antidumping and countervailing duty cases and currency manipulation. The USCC's recommendations indicate a clear concern for how U.S. agencies work to prevent unfair trade practices.
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.
A pharmaceutical product importer cannot claim downward adjustments to the price actually paid to a foreign related supplier without providing information required for post-import adjustments to related party transactions, said an Aug. 18 CBP ruling (here). The ruling, HQ H204329, was the result of an 2012 internal advice request on the treatment of extra payments made by the importer to its related supplier for tax purposes. CBP had added the payments to the values originally declared on entry documentation. The importer, redacted in the ruling, argued to CBP that even though the post-importation tax-related adjustments were assigned to certain products, the payments were made solely for tax purposes and that the previously declared customs values should remain.
Some marketing support payments made from a parent company to an importer after the merchandise was imported does not affect the transaction price paid or payable, said CBP in a Sept. 12 ruling, HQ H125118 (here). The ruling came in response to an application for further review of a protest filed by the Pike Law Firm for an undisclosed importer. The importer is an exclusive distributor of motor vehicles imported from the parent company for resale in the U.S., CBP said.
CBP's enforcement processes for International Trade Commission exclusion orders at the ports are rife with problems, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report (here). "CBP's management of its exclusion order enforcement process at the ports contains weaknesses that result in inefficiencies and an increased risk of infringing products entering U.S. commerce," said the GAO in a summary of the report (here) on the exclusion orders, which are meant to stop imports of goods that violate intellectual property rights. The GAO looked at CBP's enforcement process, using trade alerts and targeting that are overseen by CBP's Office of International Trade and Office of Field Operations.
Ink pens assembled in Mexico using both NAFTA-originating and non-NAFTA-originating goods may receive NAFTA preferential treatment based on the net cost method at the time of import, CBP said in a Oct. 17 ruling (here). Zebra Pen-Mexico, a Mexican subsidiary of Zebra Pen Corp., asked CBP whether the pen, known as a J-roller pen, is eligible under NAFTA preferential treatment provisions.
In the Nov. 12 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 48, No. 45), CBP published notices that propose to modify or revoke rulings and similar treatment for the tariff classification of brass and steel shower escutcheons (here).
The eventual addition of other government agency (OGAs) data within the Importer Security Filing program is a realistic possibility, but much would be required before that happens, said Rich DiNucci, acting assistant commissioner for the CBP Office of Field Operations. DiNucci, who spoke Nov. 6 at a Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) event, said while OGA involvement seems to be the direction the program is headed, there's still some big impediments in the way. DiNucci said he expects the government to someday look at how "you combine these data sets so you can use them cross-agency," but that's "going to be a long, long discussion."
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The timeframe for a Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) component for exporters remains in flux as problems with hardware forced the delay of a C-TPAT portal update, said George Rudy, CBP supervisor of C-TPAT Evaluations and Assessments. Rudy spoke Nov. 6 at the Northeast Cargo Symposium, a Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) event (here). He discussed a number of efforts to improve the program, including newly added benefits and work to reach a mutual recognition arrangement with China.
A U.S. textile distributor may use the first sale transaction between a related company and the manufacturer for valuation purposes, CBP said in an Oct. 9 prospective ruling (here). The distributor, Portwest LLC, asked CBP whether it could use the sale between Portwest Limited, a foreign parent company, and the manufacturer in China for appraisement. The company also sought CBP input on whether logos, designs and third-party testing should be considered as assists in the transaction value.
Using CBP’s website on a mobile device to find rules-of-origin information does not make for an easy experience, even for the agency’s own employees. Craig Briess, international trade lawyer at the agency, found this first hand during a recent meeting on the African Growth and Opportunity Act with the Office of U.S. Trade Representative, during which he needed various regulatory information, he said during an interview. The mobile experience was far too difficult, which is why Briess set out to create a new mobile friendly site, customsmobile.com.