Kiswire Sues CBP at Trade Court Over Protest Denial in Suspended Liquidation Case
CBP improperly denied of protests of antidumping duties on wire rods from Korea due to a missed deadline even though the protests were filed within 180 days of liquidation and liquidation was suspended when CBP says the deadline for protests began to run, Kiswire said in a July 19 complaint to the Court of International Trade (Kiswire Inc. v. United States, CIT #22-00181).
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Kiswire imported the grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod at issue from South Korea in October 2018. At the time of entry, grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod from Korea was subject to an antidumping duty order with a cash deposit rate of 41.1%. In 2019, Commerce revoked the antidumping duty order retroactive to entries made on and after May 21, 2018, including Kiswire's entries at issue.
Kiswire’s customs broker then filed post summary corrections to change the entry type from type 07 (AD/CVD quota combination) to type 02 (consumption - quota) and provided CBP with end-use certifications for the three entries. CBP denied the post summary corrections in January 2020, explaining that because the entries were subject to AD/CVD, the entries were not liquidated and instead were left in suspended status.
Kiswire said that CBP finally liquidated the three entries in September 2021 without the refund of the AD duties deposited at the time of entry. Kiswire then filed protest in December 2021, which CBP denied, stating that the entries were deemed liquidated by operation of law in October 2019 and the protest was filed out of time.
In its complaint, Kiswire said that its protest was timely filed within 180 days of the actual liquidation of the three entries. The entries were not deemed liquidated by operation of law in October 2019, but rather remained in suspended status until September 2021. According to Kiswire, CBP advised its broker on four separate occasions that the entries had not deemed liquidated and that the entries remained suspended pending further instructions from Commerce. CBP’s denial of Kiswire’s protest on the ground that the entries were deemed liquidated by operation of law in 2019 is therefore "arbitrary and capricious," Kiswire said. CBP posted on its Official Notice of Extension, Suspension and Liquidation that the entries were suspended due to the antidumping case as of April 6, 2020, which, Kiswire noted, was after the date that CBP claimed the entries were deemed liquidated.
Kiswire also argued that, because Commerce instructed CBP to lift the suspension of liquidation, "it was incumbent upon CBP to establish procedures" for doing so. Kiswire’s broker sent several e-mail messages to CBP requesting instructions on receiving refunds for AD duties on items no longer subject to the AD order. According to Kiswire, CBP did not respond to these emails, but verbally instructed Kiswire’s broker "not to take any action ... until receiving further instructions."
CBP’s assessment of AD duties was unlawful because Kiswire’s entries of grade 1078 and higher tire cord quality wire rod were excluded from the AD order as amended, the importer said. Kiswire said that it satisfied the terms of the scope exclusion by supplying mill test and end-use certifications. Therefore, Kiswire argued, it is entitled to the refund of the AD cash deposits paid at entry for the three entries subject to this appeal plus interest.