Timing chain guides used in automotive engines are properly classified in Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 8409 as parts for use in engines rather than in heading 8708 as parts for motor vehicles, CBP said in a recently released ruling. The ruling came in response to a request for further review of a denied protest on behalf of US Tsubaki Holdings. Tsubaki entered three models of timing chain guides under heading 8409 but CBP liquidated the entries as parts of vehicles.

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While CBP rulings on country of origin show there are ways to keep China in the supply chain and still avoid Section 301 tariffs, Thompson Hine attorneys, during a webinar on what to expect in trade in 2023, said that if your product is auto parts, electric vehicle battery components, chemicals, pharmaceuticals or critical minerals, your chance of avoiding tariffs or other regulatory restrictions is not great.

CBP is working on a new benefit for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program that would allow CTPAT members to report they’ve found forced labor in their supply chain without triggering CBP penalties or additional detentions, CBP’s Manny Garza said during a webinar hosted by the agency on Jan. 27.

Importers of non-textile goods that are of Chinese origin but sourced from a seller in another country may not have to transmit the Chinese postal code as will be required on March 18 (see 2212210041) under a new ACE Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act “Region Alert,” according to a CBP official speaking during a webinar hosted by the agency Jan. 26.

CBP has now received two “exception requests” seeking to rebut the presumption that goods produced in Xinjiang were produced with forced labor, said CBP’s Therese Randazzo, special adviser in the agency’s Forced Labor Division, during a webinar hosted by CBP on Jan. 26.

House Select Committee on China Chairman Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., said that the committee will definitely want to look into how the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act is being enforced, and he expects there to be joint committee hearings on the topic.

A Republican Ways and Means Committee member said renewing the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program and the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill would require his committee and the Senate Finance Committee to come to an agreement on what they can support before the House moves a bill.

Despite concerns from customs brokers that new provisions in CBP’s recent Part 111 final rule could hurt their client relationships, a new reporting requirement for termination of the broker-client relationship should rarely come up, and another provision on record-keeping by brokers when they discover client compliance issues carries with it some silver linings, customs experts said on a Jan. 25 webinar.

The Federal Maritime Commission will amend its proposed rule on unreasonable carrier conduct (see 2209130040), after industry, lawmakers and at least one federal agency said the rule was too broad, missed congressional intent and didn’t go far enough to address carriers that refuse to carry exports in favor of imports. The commission plans to issue a “supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking” to incorporate changes to the rule, FMC Chair Daniel Maffei said during a Jan. 25 commission meeting, adding that he hopes to publish the updates “as quickly as possible.”