International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP CROSS Rulings
CBP issues binding advance rulings in connection with the importation of merchandise into the United States. They issue the rulings to give the trade community transparency of how CBP will treat a prospective import or carrier transaction. Common rulings include the tariff classification, country of origin, or free trade agreement applicability of merchandise, among other things. These rulings are available in CBP's Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) database.
Changes to the USMCA rules of origin (ROOs) have "had a positive economic impact on the U.S. and North American auto industry, although with some challenges in implementation and new challenges emerging," according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The USTR report to Congress, mandated by Congress when NAFTA was rewritten, noted that carmakers "are still adjusting to the full scope of USMCA’s autos rules," with 13 entities given extended time to meet the stricter rules, at least for some models.
CBP has ruled that Taiwan is the country of origin for Aegis Multimedia’s DisplayPort male to female adapter, for government procurement purposes, according to a June 27 final determination.
Industry stakeholders will be watching whether new CBP amendments aimed at ensuring that U.S. imports follow copyright laws will be effective enough, according to a Houston attorney specializing in trademark and copyright litigation.
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 28 overturned a hallmark of administrative law that had stood for four decades: the principle, established in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, of deferring to federal agencies' interpretation of ambiguous statutes.
CBP will soon begin rejecting ACE filings for products that fail to comply with certain organic import filing requirements under the USDA’s Strengthening Organic Enforcement final rule, which requires electronic National Organic Program import certificates for organic agricultural products (see 2403190066 and 2301180051). CBP has been issuing warnings for those filings since new USDA organic enforcement regulations became effective March 19, but the agency said in a June 24 CSMS message that the warning will change to a reject in ACE’s certification environment on June 28 and in ACE’s production environment on Sept. 19.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told the House Energy and Commerce Committee that the content of a rule on connected vehicles made by Chinese companies hasn't been decided yet, but she said the more she learns about the ability for surveillance by advanced cars, the more it scares her.
On July 1, the Commerce Department will begin reconducting the sunset reviews on stilbenic optical brightening agents (OBAs) from Taiwan and China, after the Court of International Trade on May 28 found that the regulatory provision upon which Commerce relied to revoke the antidumping duty orders on OBAs from the two countries (see 2212280023) violated the Tariff Act.
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website June 24, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
A "back to basics" webinar on de minimis presented by CBP, which was watched by more than 1,900 in the trade community, didn't elaborate on the suspensions of customs brokers from Type 86, though CBP official Felicia Pullam said the agency has heard "a lot of concern in the trade community about this enforcement."