International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Sept. 28-Oct. 2 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
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.
Plastic head-shaped lollipop holders imported separately from lollipops meet the required standards for classification as toys in heading 9503, CBP said in a ruling released Oct. 2. The ruling request came from lawyers for Imaginings 3, which imports the lollipop holders, the agency said. The merchandise was then being entered at the Port of Chicago “and so we have converted the ruling request to an internal advice request for entries not yet liquidated,” CBP said in the ruling, dated July 31.
A combination of “inconsistent reviews” and the “reliance on importers’ self-reported data” within the CBP reconciliation process leaves millions of dollars at risk, the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General said in a report released Oct. 2. “CBP also missed opportunities to maximize revenue because of inadequate reporting on importers who filed reconciliation entries late or did not file at all,” it said. CBP took issue with parts of the OIG report, it said in a response.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) Intelligent Enforcement Subcommittee offered some broad enforcement process improvement suggestions as part of a white paper on CBP's “intelligent enforcement modernization” efforts. CBP posted the document ahead of the next COAC meeting Oct. 7. Among the “solutions” mentioned are changes to the Fines, Penalties and Forfeiture (FPF) branches and revisions to mitigation guidelines.
CBP posted multiple documents ahead of the Oct. 7 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Sept. 21-25 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Court of International Trade should use a case management approach for the numerous Section 301 tariff lawsuits similar to the one used for litigation over the harbor maintenance tax (HMT), the Department of Justice said in a Sept. 23 filing. That should include the selection of a “test case” and a stay of all other cases involved, DOJ said. The filing marks DOJ's first since HMTX Industries filed suit to force refunds of Section 301 tariffs paid on lists 3 and 4 goods from China (see 2009110005).
Whether the deadline has passed for court challenges to lists 3 and 4 of Section 301 tariffs of goods from China continues to be in question, lawyers following the case have said. While some have pegged the deadline to Sept. 21 based on a two-year statute of limitations from when the List 3 tariffs were published in the Federal Register (see 2009160056), other factors remain in play. Filing sooner rather than later is seen as preferable, the lawyers said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Sept. 14-18 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Court of International Trade is deluged with hundreds of lawsuits that closely model a challenge from Akin Gump and HMTX Industries that seeks to force refunds of Section 301 tariffs paid on lists 3 and 4 goods from China (see 2009110005). Such a torrent of filings is rare but not unheard of at the CIT, lawyers involved with and following the litigation said. The most obvious example was the yearslong litigation over the harbor maintenance tax (HMT), they said.