CBP CROSS Rulings

In oral arguments Oct. 8, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit indicated that the plaintiff challenging an Enforce and Protect Act evasion finding whose entries have all already been liquidated was likely not going to succeed in reversing the dismissal of its case by the Court of International Trade (see 2208180045) (All One God Faith v. U.S., Fed. Cir. # 23-1078).

The Court of International Trade on Oct. 15 limited the scope of the testimony that will be offered by two of the government's witnesses in a customs spat on the classification of The Comfy, a wearable blanket imported by Cozy Comfort Co. Judge Stephen Vaden said fashion industry professional Patricia Concannon can testify only on topics related to the "sale, marketing, and merchandising of apparel," and that CBP national import specialist Renee Orsat "may not testify about opinions she formed during the Customs’ classification process."

The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:

In response to a U.S. claim that it couldn't move for a motion on its pleadings before issues of fact were settled by discovery (see 2409260061), an importer of tubing for perforating guns said Oct. 15 that it was “impossible” for CBP to find that one of its products should have been classified under a different Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading between the time the importer sought a Section 232 exclusion request and the time it shipped its entry into the country (G&H Diversified Manufacturing v. U.S., CIT # 22-00130).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit last week held that tire retailer Texas Truck Parts & Tire was the "beneficial owner" of tires imported by Chinese manufacturers and, as such, is liable for excise taxes on the imports (Texas Truck Parts & Tire v. United States, 5th Cir. # 23-20588).

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The Court of International Trade on Oct. 15 partially granted importer Cozy Comfort Co.'s motions to exclude the testimony of witnesses offered by the government in a customs classification spat on The Comfy, a wearable blanket. Judge Stephen Vaden said the testimony of fashion industry professional Patricia Concannon should be limited to topics pertaining to the "sale, marketing, and merchandising of apparel," as opposed to the design of The Comfy. The judge also limited the testimony of CBP national import specialist Renee Orsat, ruling that she "may not testify about opinions she formed during the Customs' classification process." In addition, Vaden denied the government's bid to exclude expert testimony from outerwear designer James Crumley, who was offered as a witness by Cozy Comfort. The judge rejected the government's attacks on Crumley's reliability as a witness.

Georgia woman Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois filed a motion for judgment at the Court of International Trade on Oct. 14 contesting four questions on the October 2021 customs broker license exam, claiming that the questions "lacked sufficient information" that would have allowed her to make an "informed choice." Stoute-Francois added that some of the questions "unreasonably called for knowledge" that a test taker "would have no reasonable basis to possess" and that CBP "failed to adequately explain its decision to deny" her credit for some of the questions (Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois v. U.S., CIT # 24-00046).

The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:

The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: