SCOTUS Denies Petition in Case Against Puerto Rico Ports Authority Over Security Fees
The Supreme Court of the U.S. denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by 24 importers challenging enhanced security fees (ESF) on goods collected by the Puerto Rico Ports Authority. Denying the petition on May 17, the Supreme…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
Court ended the challenge of fees that importers claim cost more than $150 million. To collect the fees, PRPA contracted with Rapiscan Systems Inc., which conducted "non-intrusive scanning of shipping containers" entering Puerto Rico through the Port of San Juan. Despite a federal district court order enjoining Puerto Rico from collecting ESFs from operations not being scanned, Rapiscan, PRPA and Rapiscan's affiliate S2 Services Puerto Rico, continued to collect the ESFs for all cargo, including non-scanned containers. The practice only ended when the Puerto Rico Court of Appeals ordered PRPA to cease and desist from carrying out the collection of ESFs.