Pop-up tents designed for backpacking should be duty-free "backpacking tents" instead of other" tents, Ohio-based tent importer Under the Weather (UTW) said in its June 23 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The company is challenging CBP's classification of its imported tents at a higher duty rate than the company had used for eight years and despite an earlier protest approval that seemed to have affirmed UTW's preferred classification (Under the Weather v. U.S., CIT # 21-00211).
Lawyers from both Norca Engineered Products and DOJ tried to convince Court of International Trade Judge Jane Restani that their preferred definition of "backhoe" was the correct one, during June 23 oral arguments (Norca Engineered Products v. U.S., CIT # 21-00305).
Importer Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) will appeal a May Court of International Trade decision concerning the classification of 14 types of frozen fruit mixtures. According to the June 23 notice of appeal, Nature's Touch will take the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the suit, Judge Stephen Vaden said all of the mixture types, five of which contain vegetable ingredients, should be set under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 0811.90.80 as "other" frozen fruits, dutiable at 14.5% (see 2305260048) (Nature's Touch Frozen Foods (West) v. United States, CIT # 20-00131).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Commerce Department didn't violate the law by accepting information submitted by antidumping duty respondent Zhejiang Dingli Machinery Co. even though the data was labeled as business proprietary, the government said in a reply brief at the Court of International Trade. In the AD investigation on mobile access equipment and subassemblies from China, the U.S. said the information could only have been submitted as business proprietary information, and that the data was merely "supporting documentation for information already on the record" (Coalition of American Manufacturers of Mobile Access Equipment v. U.S., CIT # 22-00152).
CBP illegally classified rough, unworked emerald stones imported by Fine Emeralds, the company argued in a June 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The customs agency classified the goods under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 7103.10.40, dutiable at 10.5%, while Fine Emeralds is claiming that the proper home for the emeralds is subheading 7103.10.20, free of duty. Subheading 7103.10.40 provides for precious stones, whether or not worked but not strung, mounted or set, "Other," while subheading 7103.10.20 provides for unworked precious stones. The complaint said that on entry the merchandise was described on the commercial invoice as "rough emeralds," adding that they were neither "simply sawn nor roughly shaped" (Fine Emeralds v. United States, CIT # 20-03928).
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 21 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 Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 16 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 following lawsuit was recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: