The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
USMCA
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement is a free trade agreement between the three countries, also known as CUSMA in Canada and T-MEC in Mexico. Replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2020, the agreement contains a unique sunset provision where, after six years (in 2026), any of the three parties may decide not to continue the agreement in its current form and begin a period of up to 10 years where USMCA provisions may be renegotiated.
The Commerce Department is updating its regulations on dispute settlement for antidumping and countervailing duty cases under USMCA, it said in an interim final rule. The USMCA Article 10.12 provisions are “substantively identical” to those found in NAFTA Article 1904, so the changes are minor, including updating old references to NAFTA to now say USMCA, and updates to outdated cross-references to other regulations and to outdated notice, filing, service and protective order procedures. The interim final rule takes effect Dec. 9, though it does not apply to any binational panel under NAFTA, “or any extraordinary challenge arising out of any such review, that was commenced before July 1, 2020,” Commerce said. Comments are due Jan. 10, 2022.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Dec. 1 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
Applications are due Nov. 22 for inclusion on a roster of potential panelists for USMCA dispute settlement cases involving antidumping duty proceedings and amendments to AD/CVD laws. USTR reviews its roster of 25 panelists annually, and this round will cover April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023. Canada and Mexico also keep rosters of 25. Applicants should be of “good character and of high standing and repute, and are to be chosen strictly on the basis of their objectivity, reliability, sound judgment, and general familiarity with international trade law,” USTR said. Roster members may not be affiliated with any of the three USMCA governments, except for judges, who will be appointed to the roster “to the fullest extent practicable.”
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Oct. 18 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Oct. 7 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
Heavy truck parts destined for a U.S. assembly plant cannot qualify for USMCA benefits under tariff shift rules, CBP told Mitsubishi Electric's Automotive division. Under USMCA, the original equipment starter must have 60% North American content under a net cost method, or 70% under a transaction value method; that percentage will go up in July 2024 to 64% or 74%, respectively, and 70% or 80% in 2027.
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Sept. 24 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Sept. 28 on AD/CV duty proceedings:
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Sept. 24 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):