Tim Warren

CBP continues to believe that "adaptive clothing" with magnetic closures and other features don't meet the requirements for duty-free treatment under tariff subheading 9817.00.96 as articles for the handicapped, the agency said in an Oct. 29 ruling. CBP previously ruled that the "adaptive" girls' dress and jeans didn't satisfy the requirements of the subheading because the adaptations weren't significant enough, similar to another ruling on the same subject (see 1807130038). McGuireWoods lawyer John Pellegrini filed a request for reconsideration of that ruling on behalf of the importer, PVH Corporation.

Six entries of stainless steel plate in coils (SSPC) imported in 1999 from Belgium that were subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders were deemed liquidated by operation of law, Court of International Trade Judge Kenton Musgrave said in a Dec. 21 ruling. The importer, Arbed Americas, LLC, sued CBP over the 2011 liquidation of the entries. Those entries were caught up in a separate lawsuit that resulted in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit suspending liquidation of all entries of SSPC from Belgium and remanding a denied preliminary injunction back to CIT.

Sun Bright International Corporation and Fair Importing Corporation evaded antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions through a transshipment scheme, CBP said in a Dec. 11 final determination. The original investigation (see 1805160018) was the result of allegations filed under the Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) by the Aluminum Extrusions Fair Trade Committee, which is part of the Aluminum Extruders Council. The companies were said to have imported aluminum extrusions made in China through Malaysia and falsely declared the goods as being of Malaysian origin.

Lawmakers were unable to reach a federal government funding deal on Dec. 21, resulting in a shutdown that began at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 22 and has no clear end in sight. CBP held a conference call on Dec. 21 with members of the trade to discuss the agency's operations during a shutdown, according to the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. CBP will have conference calls during the shutdown and is preparing a CSMS message to detail its plans, the NCBFAA said.

CBP will take a closer look at the possible use of Chinese internment camp forced labor in the production of imported sportswear, following an Associated Press report, an agency spokesman said. "CBP is reviewing the information published this week" by the AP and another report from The New York Times that linked the internment camps to goods sold by Badger Sportswear, the spokesman said. Those reports "for the first time [appear] to link the internment camps identified in Western China to the importation of goods produced by forced labor by a U.S. company," he said.

CBP's final rule for drawback regulations includes some changes from the proposed rule, but keeps in place much of the proposal, including the controversial provisions on drawback for excise taxes. The biggest change from the proposed rule is the elimination of limits on "mixed" claims. The final rule is a result of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act and a Court of International Trade decision that found CBP to be taking too long to issue the final regulations (see 1810120055).

The U.S. should simplify the classification requirements for shipments valued between $800 and $2,500, UPS said in comments to the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The Canada Border Services Agency uses only six classification codes for "casual business/consumer-to-consumer import shipments valued at less than US$500 per item" and the U.S. would benefit from a similar policy, UPS said. The comments were filed in the docket for the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council's request for public input on aligning regulatory requirements between the two countries (see 1810120028).

There's been some significant growth in imports of products eligible for Generalized System of Preferences benefits in recent months, the Coalition for GSP said in a blog post. The coalition, which advocates for keeping the GSP program in place and is run by a consultancy called Trade Partnership Worldwide, said October set another record for GSP imports. The GSP benefits in October saved U.S. companies $105 million, an increase of $12 million, or 13 percent, over the previous record set in August, the group said.

An audit of CBP's revenue collection processes during fiscal years 2014-2016 found some big insufficiencies in how the agency pursues and tracks debt collection, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General said in a newly released report. The DHS IG said that "CBP does not fully enforce Customs laws over its revenue collection process" and "did not exhaust all administrative efforts in its collection duties." CBP objected to several of the IG's findings, but ultimately concurred with the recommended next steps.

Cable modems that are made up of Chinese parts but assembled in Mexico are subject to the 10 percent Section 301 tariffs on goods from China, CBP said in a Nov. 27 ruling. The ruling request was submitted by Barnes Richardson lawyer Lawrence Friedman on behalf of Zoom Telephonics. CBP's analysis is on two types of modems, one type that includes a Wi-Fi gateway and one that does not. The modems are Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) 3.1 and compatible with several major cable systems, including Comcast and Cox, it said.