The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Country of origin cases
The Department of Justice and defendant-intervenor American Kitchen Cabinet Alliance moved to strike part of Chinese cabinet exporter's argument in an antidumping case, claiming the exporter included a new argument in a court filing that was not part of the underlying investigation. In dual April 22 motions to strike in the Court of International Trade, both DOJ and the AKCA said the argument by the exporter, The Ancientree Cabinet Co., over the proper classification of its inputs for wooden cabinets and vanities in selecting surrogate values for an antidumping investigation from a nonmarket economy was not raised during oral argument. A lawyer associated with the case confirmed Ancientree will file a response to the motion to strike.
The Department of Justice intends to file a counterclaim seeking unpaid duties against an importer challenging the classification of its dried or bleached plant parts, according to a joint status report filed in the case April 21. Though Second Nature originally filed the 19 USC 1581(a) denied protest challenge, DOJ “is now in the process of seeking internal U.S. Government approval to assert counterclaims for underpaid duties on products imported under cover of the subject entries that were previously inaccurately or incompletely described by Plaintiff,” the status report said. Second Nature says it “will not consent to allow [DOJ] to amend its Answer to raise a counterclaim after years of litigation, noting under USCIT Rule 15 leave of Court would be required to allow such an amendment.” Second Nature is challenging classification of the dried or bleached plant parts that are painted, dyed or glittered as not dried or bleached at a 7% duty. If classified as dried or bleached, they would be duty free.
Wood importer Richmond International Forest Products launched a challenge in the Court of International Trade claiming its imports of hardwood plywood from Cambodia were erroneously deemed to be of Chinese origin by CBP. In an April 21 complaint, RIFP said its imports were improperly hit with antidumping and countervailing duties, Section 301 tariffs, Merchandise Processing Fees and additional Harbor Maintenance Fee. In addition, RIFP claims that CBP's failure to consider what it sees as key evidence violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the importer's Fifth Amendment rights of due process.
With increased False Claims Act enforcement, an executive willing to get more aggressive on fraud enforcement, and legislative action expanding the FCA's reach expected, trade exposure to FCA risk has nowhere to go but up, lawyers from Sidley Austin said. In an April 20 analysis, Sidley discussed recent trends in the so-called "reverse false claim," which focuses on money owed to the government rather than by it.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The origin of electric vehicle motors and the applicability of Section 301 tariffs depends on where the two most important components of the engine are made, said CBP in a recently released ruling. In response to a country of origin ruling request from LG Electronics, CBP considered multiple manufacturing scenarios for the motors.
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade's newest judge, Stephen Vaden, issued his first opinion with the court on April 21, dismissing tire importer Strategic Import Supply's challenge of CBP's assessment of countervailing duties on its imports of passenger vehicle and light truck tires from China. Vaden found that the importer's protest was filed too late, holding the 180-day deadline for protests runs from the date of liquidation, rather than the date CBP received updated assessment instructions from Commerce after Commerce amended rates set in the relevant CV duty administrative review.
The following are short summaries of CBP rulings recently added to the agency's CROSS database (any rulings that warrant a more detailed summary will be in another Trade Law Daily article):