Customs Law

Back in 2020, we covered National Association of Manufacturers v. Department of Treasury  in which the Court of International Trade invalidated a CBP regulatory amendment that prohibited drawback of certain excise taxes based on the export of domestically-produced wine that was exempt from the export tax. The Federal Circuit has now affirmed that decision, along much the same lines of reasoning as applied by the CIT, so go read that post for more details. In brief, Customs and Border Protection (but apparently not Congress) perceived there to be a problem in the way drawback law has been applied to wines with respect to excise taxes. Prior to CBP amending the regulations, drawback could be claimed for the recovery of excise taxes paid on imported wine where the corresponding exported wine was a domestic product that was exempt from the excise tax. The exemption might apply because the wine was exported from a bonded warehouse without being offered for sale in the U.S. The apparent ...

I've been at this a long time. Nevertheless, I am still sometimes surprised. That happened when I read N272495 (Mar. 1, 2016) . There are two "travel kits" at issue in this ruling. These are travel kits of the kind used by Victorian gentlemen tromping around the Amazon or Africa trailing a line of porters carrying their necessities. In this case, the necessities include six glass bottles with caps, two pipets, a funnel, coasters, a whisky taking journal, some other stuff, and a leather case for all of it. There is also a Share-A-Dram kit consisting of 12 glass bottles, a funnel, paper neck tags, and sample tasting ledger. Customs and Border Protection decided that these kits are to be classified as retail sets based on the single item that imparts their essential character. For the travel kits and the Share-A-Dram, that is the glassware, specifically the drinking glasses, which are the most expensive glass items. Here's the more interesting point. The drinking g...

This one is for Lando Calrissian and his doppelganger Billy Dee Williams . It has to do with the tariff treatment of malt beverages and whether they are, in fact, beer.The ruling is H243087 (Jan. 13, 2015). The beverages at issue are "Green Apple Sparkletini Italian Spumante" and similar products in raspberry and peach varieties. There is also a "Verdi Spumante." The obvious question is, "In what analysis is spumante beer?" Maybe in this case. The beverages are made from a mash of malted barley and non-malted cereals plus hops. That mixture is "wort," which is then mixed with brewer's yeast and allowed to ferment. So far, that sounds like beer to me. Hat tip to my local favorite But, the base is then filtered to remove color and aroma (two of the best parts of beer). This produces a clear base to which natural flavors in the form of "wine base" and sugar are added. We now have something that sounds a lot more like the Ba...

You may recall, I previously posted about my concerns for the proper means of entering the shambling undead . It appears U.S. Customs and Border Protection has already contemplated the tariff treatment of drinkable zombies mixes. In NY N008597 (Apr. 13, 2007), the product was, among other things, a coffin-shaped cardboard box containing a bottle of "Citrus Zombie." The drink was about 70% water and 30% sugar with small amounts of flavoring a citric acid. The bottle included instructions to mix with equal parts of tequila, which is odd since a zombie cocktail is traditionally made with rum. According to CBP, this product is a food preparation not elsewhere specified or included, classifiable in 2106.90.9972. Helpfully, CBP pointed out that the item was not properly marked with its country of origin and that the food preparation is subject to FDA regulation. All of which is a segue into this cartoon from yesterday's paper . For copyright reasons, I'm just giving ...

Alcohol Victoria is a 99 proof (49.5% alcohol by volume) neutral spirit beverage made of distilled sugarcane. This seems like something I would like to know more about. It does not seem to be  rum , which is made from sugarcane byproducts such as molasses and cane juice. My understanding is that rum production was historically a means of using up material from the production of sugar. Alcohol Victoria must be different in that it is made directly from cane. Does that make it similar to Cachaca ? This Brazilian product is the chief ingredient of the caipirinha , one of my favorite summer cocktails. It is distilled from sugarcane juice. Alcohol Victoria might also be similar to CSR , a potent spirit made in St. Kitts. The caipirinha. The question in HQ H197914 (Jun. 25, 2014) is how to classify Alcohol Victoria. There was no disagreement on the correct heading, which is 2208. That heading covers "spirits, liqueurs and other spirituous beverages." It might be class...