Customs Duty

Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., introduced a bill that would require CBP to pay interest on distributions of antidumping duties and countervailing duties to injured parties under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act (CDSOA), for entries that were made before Sept. 30, 2007. According to a press release from Panetta, garlic growers are owed $10.5 million for distributions that were too low between 2000 and 2014. Under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA), interest was paid on distributions of payments made after Oct. 1, 2014, in connection with "a customs bond pursuant to a court order or judgment; or a settlement with respect to a customs bond, including any payment made to U.S. Customs and Border Protection with respect to that bond by a surety."

The Commerce Department issued a Federal Register notice on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on emulsion-styrene butadiene rubber from the Czech Republic (A-851-805), Italy (A-475-844) and Russia (A-821-835). The agency will determine whether imports of ESB rubber are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. The investigations cover entries during the period Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2021.

Sang Bum Noh, owner of Los Angeles-based garment wholesaler Ambiance Apparel, was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison for conspiring to undervalue imported garments and skirting millions in import duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said Dec. 6. Noh also failed to report millions of dollars in income on tax returns and failed to report large cash transactions, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

John Butler, CEO of the World Shipping Council, said ocean carriers are getting mixed messages from the White House, which is encouraging carriers and ports to rev up their leverage on buyers and freight forwarders so that they pick up their cargo promptly, and from Congress. The House of Representatives is expected to vote on an Ocean Shipping Reform Act that would give the Federal Maritime Commission more authority to punish players for unreasonable demurrage charges -- the same fees used as leverage.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America urged its members to share information about where their employees work, and to make calls to their representatives so that a temporary change to bankruptcy law that benefits brokers does not expire at the end of the year. The group "had several calls over the last couple weeks to rally congressional members to support" the Customs Business Fairness Act, Legislative Committee Chair Laurie Arnold said. “The overwhelming comment we receive during these conversations is ‘how many constituents are in my district that this would help?’ It is very difficult for us to give a good answer since we don’t have a complete list from our members.” This year, if an importer declares bankruptcy, the duties that brokers passed through to CBP in the 90 days before the bankruptcy filing are not subject to clawback. But if the provision expires, NCBFAA says, "We are left in the middle holding the bag and potentially on the line to hand over millions of dollars, depending on the size of the importer, to the bankruptcy trustee." The group lobbied for more than 20 years to get this change, "and we now have it," they wrote in an advisory to members. "Don’t let it slip away!"

The leader of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee focused on making it easier for domestic industry to win antidumping and countervailing duty cases and said that the de minimis statute needs to be altered, in a hearing designed to talk about how Chinese practices damage workers, businesses and the environment.

A customs modernization bill discussion draft released by Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., last month (see 2111030035) is unlikely to progress in 2022, the senator said in a phone interview with International Trade Today. Although the request for feedback gave a deadline of Nov. 20, the office is still hearing from the trade. "Oh, we're getting feedback," Cassidy said with a chuckle.

The Commerce Department issued a notice on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigation on superabsorbent polymers from South Korea (A-580-914). The agency will determine whether imports of merchandise subject to this investigation are being sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.

Trade associations and industry groups urged World Trade Organization members to extend the moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions. In a "Global Industry Statement," ahead of the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 12th Ministerial Conference, 73 groups said that allowing the moratorium to expire would amount to a "historic setback for the WTO," due to its role in allowing the digital economy to grow. The groups urged an extension until the next conference. The moratorium is key to the COVID-19 recovery, as the cross-border exchange of knowledge, COVID technical expertise, and scientific and commercial information across transnational IT networks, "as well as access to digital tools and global market opportunities have helped sustain economies, expand education, and raise global living standards," the statement said.

Plans to update statutory language to allow for CBP to use advance cargo data "for any lawful purpose" is an early area of concern among trade groups that submitted comments to the office of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., about a draft customs modernization bill (see 2111030039). That provision "is a significant amendment to the Trade Act of 2002 manifest requirements and will present a challenge regarding how the agency will merge and crosscheck data received from multiple parties," the Express Association of America told Cassidy, EAA Executive Director Michael Mullen said by email.