The Justice Department is pursuing criminal charges against Aventura Technologies of Commack, New York for selling Chinese-origin goods falsely labeled U.S.-origin to the U.S. government and others, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York said in a news release. Seven current and former employees are also charged, it said. "Aventura imported networked security products from PRC manufacturers with known cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and resold them to U.S. military and other government installations while claiming that they were American-made," said the DOJ.
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.
The U.S. will soon start discussions with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations about a possible connection between ASEAN's customs filing platform with the U.S. platform, the State Department said in a Nov. 3 fact sheet about "Expanding the Enduring Partnership" with ASEAN. "The United States and the ASEAN Secretariat announced the opening of negotiations to link the ASEAN 'Single Window' with the U.S. Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) System, which governs all trade in goods entering the United States," State said. "Making this link will further facilitate $272 billion in two-way trade in goods between the United States and ASEAN."
Ice bags that are sold with textile covers that protect users from ice burns are classifiable based on the textile covers, CBP said in a Sept. 16 ruling. The agency's ruling was in response to a request for reconsideration of a 2017 ruling from Precept Medical Products (see 1801110012). Precept, which was represented by Kevin Williams of Clark Hill, said the ice bags should not be classified as composite goods.
CBP issued a new withhold release order on tobacco from Malawi and products containing tobacco from Malawi on Nov. 1, the agency said in a news release. "The products will be detained at all U.S. ports of entry," it said. "CBP issued the WRO based on information collected by the agency that reasonably indicates the tobacco from Malawi is produced using forced labor and forced child labor."
CBP posted a new guidance on the factors the agency may consider for reducing penalties for violations of wood packaging material regulations. The agency also gave a range of possible mitigation amounts based on the number of violations that have occurred. CBP said in 2017 it would increase the frequency of penalties for WPM violations and no longer limit some penalties to parties with five or more violations (see 1709250038) to motivate better compliance with the rules.
CBP affirmed its position on the use of substantial transformation as the standard for determining country of origin for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs and NAFTA rules, it said in ruling HQ H305370. CBP said another recent ruling mistakenly said that computer server cabinets assembled in Mexico were not subject to the Section 301 tariffs when in fact they are.
Two importers evaded antidumping and countervailing duties on stainless steel flanges from China, CBP said in a recent final determination from an Enforce and Protect Act proceeding that the agency hasn't posted yet. The final determination, dated Oct. 9, is a result of an investigation initiated by CBP last year (see 1812100009) into possible evasion of AD order A-570-064 and CVD order C-570-065. Core Pipe Products, which is represented by Wiley Rein lawyer Daniel Pickard, filed the allegation that set off the proceeding.
CBP added the ability in ACE for importers to file entries with recently excluded goods in the first tranche of Section 301 tariffs on Oct. 8, it said in a CSMS messages. For the first tranche exclusions, filers of imported products that were granted an exclusion (see 1909300041) should report the regular Chapters 84, 85, 88 and 90 Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, as well as subheading 9903.88.19. “Importers shall not submit the corresponding Chapter 99 HTS number for the Section 301 duties when" subheading 9903.88.19 is submitted, CBP said.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced procedures for requesting product exclusions to some of the fourth list of Section 301 tariffs on products from China. A subset of those tariffs took effect on Sept. 1 (see 1908270066), while the rest of the tariffs are scheduled to begin on Dec. 15. This process only applies to tariffs that began on Sept. 1, it said.
CBP should allow for seizures of goods from the Xinjiang region of China if there are certain "red flags" that indicate the use of forced labor, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in an Oct. 16 report. The use of red flags is necessary "due to a lack of meaningful access to Xinjiang and the level of surveillance and repression there that render audits and other traditional fact-finding impossible," CSIS said. The report was released ahead of an Oct. 17 Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing on the use of forced labor by Uighurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities detained in internment camps.