The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the weeks of Feb. 20-26 and Feb. 27 - March 5:
Harmonized Tariff Schedule
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) is a reference manual that provides duty rates for almost every item that exists. It is a system of classifying and taxing all goods imported into the United States. The HTS is based on the international Harmonized System, which is a global standard for naming and describing trade products, and consists of a hierarchical structure that assigns a specific code and rate to each type of merchandise for duty, quota, and statistical purposes. The HTS was made effective on January 1, 1989, replacing the former Tariff Schedules of the United States. It is maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission, but the Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the HTS.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
Frozen risottos are classified as pre-cooked foods under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States heading 1904, even though the risottos are only par-cooked and require more cooking by the consumer, CBP said in a recently released headquarters ruling. Though the importer argued for classification as food preparations of HTS heading 2106, CBP said foods may be considered pre-cooked if they require up to 12 minutes of additional cooking time, and the frozen risottos only require cooking for two to seven minutes more, CBP said in HQ H325964.
The International Trade Commission posted Revision 1 to the 2023 Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The update includes a technical correction to the USMCA rules of origin and a minor correction for organic surface-active agents (other than soap). The update also implements the extension through May of exclusions from Section 301 tariffs for 81 medical care products related to COVID-19 (see 2302020065) and implements corrections to descriptions and tariff numbers of two other Section 301 exclusions (see 2302090027). Also, the update removes Western Sahara from country designations and codes in the statistical annexes.
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2303 on Feb. 15, containing 97 ABI records and 24 harmonized tariff records. The changes involve adjustments required by the verification of the 2023 Harmonized Tariff Schedule, as well as an update for subheading 9903.45.25 that adjusted bound ranges to 8501.71.0000 to 8541.43.0010, it said in a Feb. 16 CSMS message.
The Commerce Department issued notices in the Federal Register on its recently initiated antidumping duty investigations on tin mill products from Canada, China, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.K. (A-122-869, A-570-150, A-428-851, A-580-915, A-421-816, A-583-870, A-489-848, A-412- 827), and its countervailing duty investigation on tin mill products from China (C-570-151). The CVD investigation covers entries for the calendar year 2022. The AD investigations on Canada, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the U.K. cover the period Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022, and the AD investigation on China covers entries July 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is developing a new Harmonized Tariff Schedule flag for use in ACE that the agency says will eliminate the need for filers to disclaim entries under tariff subheadings potentially subject to the APHIS Core partner government agency message set, it said in an emailed bulletin Feb. 9. The new “AQ3” flag will alert filers that the relevant tariff subheading may require APHIS Core PGA data, but it will not prohibit filers from successfully submitting an entry without the data or a disclaim.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 30 - Feb. 5:
The U.S. settled a civil suit against global trading and investment firm Samsung C&T America -- a subsidiary of Korean conglomerate Samsung C&T Corp. -- over charges SCTA violated the False Claims Act by misclassifying footwear imports to avoid paying customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced. The importer will pay $1 million to the U.S. and make admissions over its conduct, specifically that it misclassified its imports on entry documents filed with CBP and underpaid custom duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The Court of International Trade held oral arguments on Feb. 7 in the massive litigation over the lists 3 and 4A Section 301 tariffs. During the nearly two-hour affair, Judges Mark Barnett, Claire Kelly and Jennifer Choe-Groves probed the parties' positions on whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative complied with the Administrative Procedure Act by properly considering comments made on the proposed tariffs when imposing the duties on $500 billion of Chinese goods (In Re Section 301 Cases, CIT # 21-00052).