A California grape grower cooperative seeking the imposition of new antidumping and countervailing duties on white grape juice concentrate, it said in petitions filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission March 31. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CV duty orders and the assessment of AD and CV duties on importers. Delano Growers Grape Products filed the petition.
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
A domestic producer filed petitions March 30 with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission requesting new antidumping duties on preserved mushrooms from France, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD duty investigations. Giorgio Foods requested the investigation.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a 35% duty rate for StarKist's tuna salad pouches, agreeing with CBP's preferred Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading, in a March 30 opinion. Upholding the Court of International Trade's opinion, Judges Kimberly Moore, Timothy Dyk and Jimmie Reyna said that the tuna pouches were "not minced" and "in oil," prompting their placement under subheading 1604.14.10.
The submission or completion of CBP and Department of Defense forms related to imports of household goods and personal effects constitutes "customs business" and requires any third-party filers to be licensed customs brokers, the agency said in September ruling that was recently released. The ruling came in response to an internal CBP information request from the Port of Baltimore on the requirements for the submission of CBP forms 3461, 7501, 3299, and DOD Form 1252.
The tariff rate quota arrangement that the U.S. offered the U.K. covers a higher volume of steel than the U.K. exported to the U.S. in 2018 and 2019, though those quotas also cover steel with EU country of origin that was melted and poured in the U.K.
The Court of International Trade ruled in a March 21 opinion that a customs spat over reimported swimsuits will head to phase two of trial. After sorting through whether a Warehousing Agreement between two related companies sufficed as a lease or similar use agreement during the first phase, Judge Jennifer Choe-Groves ruled that this condition was satisfied for classification under a duty-free tariff provision for U.S. goods returned. The court will now see if the remaining conditions are satisfied in order to grant SGS Sports duty-free treatment of the reimported swimwear.
The Court of International Trade on March 18 dismissed a lawsuit brought by a domestic pipe producer seeking to compel CBP to provide it with information related to an alleged duty evasion scheme by two importers. Judge Timothy Stanceu said that while the trade court did have jurisdiction to hear the case, Wheatland Tube Company improperly submitted its requests for information to CBP, and the agency properly rejected Wheatland's request to revoke a ruling letter.
The government can seek reclassification of an importer's merchandise in court at a higher duty rate, even when CBP didn't previously pursue the rate increase against the importer, DOJ said in March 15 brief in support of its counterclaim in a tariff classification suit brought by Cyber Power -- which says the counterclaim sets a dangerous precedent (Cyber Power Systems (USA) Inc. v. United States, CIT #21-00200).
The quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts (underpayments) and refunds (overpayments) of customs duties will increase April 1, CBP said in a notice. For the quarter that begins April 1, the interest rates for overpayments will be 3% for corporations and 4% for non-corporations, and the interest rate for underpayments will be 4% for both corporations and non-corporations, it said.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely March 31, CBP said in a notice. The meeting will be the first for the newest COAC members. Comments are due in writing by March 28.