Trade Law Daily is a service of Warren Communications News.

Cable Importer Consents to Partial Motion to Dismiss Classification Dispute

Power supply and cables importer PowerTec Solutions agreed on July 8 to the government’s partial motion to dismiss the importer's case seeking a duty refund (PowerTec Solutions International v. United States, CIT # 22-00322).

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.

The U.S. argued in May that one of the importer’s administrative protests hadn’t "distinctively and specifically” defined the classification of its imported cables -- only its imported power supply (see 2506030001).

PowerTec consented to the partial dismissal in its July 8 brief to simplify litigation, “as it does not affect the core claims raised in the complaint.” It said it maintains that the Court of International Trade has jurisdiction over its other claims. The U.S. agreed in its own brief July 7.

PowerTec alleged in its October complaint that it initially entered its goods in 2019, but later found them defective and exported them for repair the following year (see 2411250072). In 2021, it re-imported them, but CBP assessed Section 301 duties on the entries’ entire value rather than only on the value of their repairs.

It said July 7 that its re-imported power supply were complete for their intended use and that they had maintained their identity throughout the repairs. It also claimed the documentation it gave CBP on re-entry was sufficient to establish both facts. As a result, it said it should only have been asked to pay Section 301 for the value of the products’ repair.