Modems manufactured in China and sent to Canada for programming and other processing are not transformed in Canada and should be considered a product of China, CBP said in a Nov. 26 ruling. The ruling was in response to a request from Electroline Equipment, which asked CBP about NAFTA treatment and the country of origin of the transponders. The transponders are subject to the Section 301 tariffs on goods from China because China is the country of origin, the agency 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 added on Dec. 19 the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the third tranche of Section 301 tariffs, it said in a CSMS message. Filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1912130028) should report the regular Chapters 03, 08, 21, 48, 54, 56, 73, 76, 83, 84, 85, 87 and 94, CBP said in the message. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when” subheading 9903.88.36 is submitted, CBP said.
CBP does not need to go through the same procedures for unpaid duty claims that are required for penalties, the Court of International Trade said in a Dec. 17 ruling. The lawsuit involves 875 entries filed by Tricots Liesse that were wrongly declared as eligible for NAFTA treatment. CIT previously dismissed a related suit over Section 1592 penalties because CBP did not allow for a face-to-face meeting before imposing the penalties, as required (see 1803260022).
CBP recently uploaded the final versions of new Minimum Security Criteria for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program, which includes some additional criteria since the previous version was posted in May, the agency said in a notice. The main change between the versions “is the addition of two new criteria that apply to all entities: the first one is that members must have a code of conduct in place (ID Number 11.5), and the second is that members must initiate their own internal investigation of a security breach as soon as they are aware of the incident (ID Number 7.37),” CBP said.
The Government Accountability Office and the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General each released a report on Dec. 17 that noted various issues within CBP's drawback program. The GAO's report suggested that CBP work to flag excessive export submissions and “establish a reliable system of record for proof of export,” among other things. The DHS IG report found that CBP “lacked appropriate documentation retention periods to ensure importers and claimants maintained support for drawback transactions” and didn't scrutinize prior drawback claims enough for claimants during 2011 to 2018.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec.9-13 in case they were missed.
The Office of the U.S Trade Representative issued some new product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on the third list of products from China, according to a pre-publication copy of a notice posted to the agency’s website Dec. 12 (see 1912130015). The product exclusions apply retroactively to Sept. 24, 2018, the date the tariffs on the third list took effect, and will remain in effect until Aug. 7, 2020. New subheading 9903.88.36 will be used for these products.
CBP's proposal to modify rulings on women's shirts with partial openings and no means of closure would result in “overturning decades of precedent that CBP itself established, and longtime industry practice,” the American Apparel and Footwear Association said in Dec. 6 comments to the agency. The proposed change would “have a huge tariff impact on what is one of the largest apparel categories on the market -- women’s cotton tops,” the group said. CBP proposed the modification in the Nov. 6 Customs Bulletin (see 1911080014), and comments were due Dec. 6.
Legislative efforts to prevent improper use of “Product of U.S.A.” labeling for imported meats instead create new issues and should be replaced by a mandatory country-of-origin labeling bill, the Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund and other trade groups said in a Dec. 9 letter to South Dakota Senate Republicans Mike Rounds and John Thune. The groups said that the U.S. Beef Integrity Act (S. 2744), which limits such labeling to “cattle exclusively born, raised, and slaughtered” in the U.S, doesn't go far enough. “Attempting to correct this single problem with stand-alone legislation, rather than reinstating mandatory COOL in its entirety, will unnecessarily complicate the efforts of U.S. cattle and hog farmers who desire to have their exclusively U.S.-produced beef and pork differentiated in America’s consumer market,” the trade group said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 2-6 in case they were missed.