Customs Law

I am proud to be moderating the 15th Annual Dominick L. DiCarlo Court of International Trade Lecture at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago on April 20, 2017. John Marshall's Center for International Law was kind enough to start hosting this program in memory of the important contributions Judge DiCarlo made to the practice of trade law and to the three John Marshall alumni who served him as law clerks. The program will include a conversation with the Honorable Jennifer Choe-Groves about her transition from government and private practice to a judge of the Court of International Trade. We will also talk about the nature of practice before the specialized court. Following the Judge, there will be two informative CLE panels covering developments in trade compliance. Once will focus on developments in supply-chain risks such as the growing use of False Claims Act cases and changes in U.S. sanctions policies. The second panel will focus on numerous aspects of intellectual prop...

Understanding the scope of antidumping and countervailing duty orders is critically important for customs compliance professionals. It does a company no good whatsoever to find a low-cost producer of some product somewhere outside the U.S. only to later discover after importation that the merchandise is subject to an antidumping or countervailing duty. Given that antidumping and countervailing duties are often in excess of 30% and have been as high as 300%, this is a potentially serious concern. If Customs and Border Protection discovers the error and the error resulted from negligence, it can collect the unpaid duties plus penalties covering a five-year period. In some cases, that can be enough to bankrupt a small importer. Before we get into this case, let me dispel a common misunderstanding. CBP "flags" HTSUS classifications that are potentially subject to an ADD or CVD order. As a result, many brokers and importers manage AD and CVD compliance through tariff classificat...

Thanks to everyone at ICPA who stopped by to tell me that they read the blog. I don't always pay close attention to the site analytics and I don't have particularly good visibility of who is visiting. Seeing you all in real life is very encouraging. Keep reading. See you in San Diego.

Because this is the 21st Century, I figured I should try more than one media. Below is the recording of a webinar I conducted with my colleague Chuck Joern . Consumer Products and Import Requirements from Barnes Global Trade on Vimeo .

WWRD U.S. v. United States is exactly the kind of case that makes me love what I do. Much like our recent foray into sunflowers seeds , this case seems to have a simple answer that gets derailed by the law. It has to do with some potentially festive articles, which is also one of my favorite legal topics. The question here is the classification of several examples of tableware that are decorated with Christmas or Thanksgiving motifs. The items have names like "Old Britain Castles - Pink Christmas" and "12 Days of Christmas crystal flutes." Customs and Border Protection classified the merchandise in various headings based on their composition. The plaintiff protested and asserted that the merchandise is specifically designed and intended for use in conjunction with Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners. According to plaintiff, that makes the correct classification HTSUS item 9817.95.01, which reads: Articles classifiable in subheadings 3924.10, 3926.90, 6307.90, 69...

Customs law is an interesting practice because we get to see all of the interesting things that come into the country. Granted, a lot of it is pieces of machinery, chemicals, and goods for resale. Now and again, something strange or unexpected shows up. Couple that with my belief that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States provides the legal means of determining important philosophical questions such as whether something is art or is holy. These questions are, sort of, the issue in HQ H136955 (Aug. 6, 2014) , which for some reason was only recently published. The merchandise at issue is the 3/4 round depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe with surrounding rays of light. The issue is whether this is a statuette or ornament of wood of HTSUS heading 4420, an original sculpture of Heading 9703, or an article for use by a religious institution of HTSUS item 9810.00.25. The starting place for this analysis is that Note 1(r) to Chapter 44 excludes works of art of Chapter 97. T...

This one will be quick, for lots of reasons. Mostly, I don’t have much to add to the ruling other than a question. The ruling at issue is HQ H128416 (Feb. 9, 2017). It involves the tariff classification of digital wide-format ink-jet printer used to print and cut vinyl graphics for outdoor advertising and similar applications. The printer is a combination of a printing machine and a cutting machine. As such, the competing tariff provisions are in Heading 8443 (Printing machinery) and 8477 (Machinery for working rubber or plastic). That is the sole question addressed in the ruling. To resolve the classification, Customs and Border Protection applied Note 3 to Section XVI of the HTSUS, which states in relevant part: Unless the context otherwise requires, composite machines consisting of two or more machines fitted together to form a whole and other machines designed for the purpose of performing two or more complementary or alternative functions are to be classified ...

I am falling behind on Rulings of the Week, but not for want of effort. I am keeping up with CIT decisions (more or less). The latest of which is Well Luck Co., Inc. v. United States . The case has to do with the classification of sunflower seeds that have been processed for human consumption. Some have been flavored with spices or other flavorings and dried. All are roasted and salted. The question is the tariff classification, which turns out to be trickier than you think. The options are HTSUS item 1206.00.00, which covers "Sunflower seeds, whether or not broken." The applicable rate of duty is free and this is what the plaintiff claimed is correct. Customs and Border Protection liquidated the sunflower seeds in HTSUS item 2008.19.90 as "Fruits, nuts and other edible parts of plants, otherwise prepared or preserved . . . not elsewhere specified or included: Nuts, peanuts (ground-nuts) and other seeds . . . ." The applicable rate of duty is 17.9%, which is a sig...

La Nica Products is an odd case. It involves a claim for preferential duty treatment under the US-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA-DR. The merchandise is cheese from Nicaragua. On its face, one would think that an agricultural product like cheese would satisfy most rules of origin. But, that is not the issue in this case. The problem here is the identity of the party making the claim. La Nica was listed as the importer of record and made the claim for duty-free treatment. After entry, La Nica, who had been listed as the importer of record, filed a Post-Entry Amendment ("PEA") attempting to change the importer of record to another party. Apparently, the other party purchased the cheese while it was en route. Customs and Border Protection asked La Nica for proof of the sale to the new alleged IOR and for a certificate of origin to support the CAFTA-DR claim. Plaintiff did not respond. Customs denied the the PEA request and liquidated the en...

[UPDATED TO ADD LINK TO THE DECISION] Remember Snuggies? A few years back, they were part of the zeitgeist. Here is a reminder of exactly what is a Snuggie. According to the commercial, Snuggies are wearable blankets with sleeves-like tubes. That raises an interesting classification question. Is it a blanket of HTSUS item 6301.40.00 (8.5%) or is it a garment classifiable in 6114.30.30 (14.9%)? Or, if it is neither, is it an "other made up article?" The Court of International Trade had to decide that question in Allstar Marketing Group v. U.S. These are important questions in my world. I get that there is a lot going on in the larger world. Lately, I have been inspired and a little shamed watching lawyers who practice in areas affecting the actual lives and liberty of people, particularly refugees and others trying to entry the country. It made me proud to be a lawyer to see my colleagues set up shop at airports to provide assistance. Yesterday, I was at a meeting sp...

There are a number of Chapter 98 tariff items that permit partial duty exemptions for items of the United States that are sent abroad and returned to the United States. Given the current trade rhetoric, it might be worth explaining why that is the case. After all, why give a benefit to companies that send goods abroad for further processing? The short answer is that the duty exemption encourages the use of U.S. origin materials in manufacturing abroad. After all, if there is going to be manufacturing abroad, the U.S. should encourage that it take advantage of U.S.-origin components and materials. The alternative is to manufacture abroad entirely from foreign components. The HTSUS item at issue in HQ H281950 (Jan. 26, 2017) 9802.00.60, which provides a partial duty exemption for: Any article of metal (as defined in U.S. note 3(e) of this subchapter) manufactured in the United States or subjected to a process of manufacture in the United States, if exported for further processing, a...

Apparently there is some kind of festival of TV commercials starting in a few minutes. I understand it will be punctuated by grown men playing football for millions of dollars. Consequently, I will make this quick. Consistent with my New Years Resolution to cover scope and other trade-related issues that closely impact customs compliance, here is a note on  IKEA Supply AG v. United States . This is a request for a rehearing of a prior decision in which the Court of International Trade held that certain IKEA towel bars are within the scope of the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on aluminum extrusions from China. The bars are indisputably aluminum extrusions. In each box, there is mounting hardware that does not constitute aluminum extrusions, but which, according to Commerce, are fasteners. Finished goods are excluded from the scope of the orders. In a scope determination, Commerce held that because the finished towel bars are extrusions and that the only non-extr...

This is a good week to be talking about trade with the Middle East. I am talking about trade in goods, which is what I do. I don't talk about immigration issues. That's too bad because yesterday was a doozy of day in the history of immigration law in America. Congratulations to the ACLU  and everyone who helped secure a stay of the President's order barring entry for people from seven majority-Muslim countries (including those already holding green cards and visas). That was a tremendous effort at ensuring the rule of law, not to mention humane treatment for people who had the bad luck of being on a plane at the moment he signed the order. There were many examples of lawyers showing up at airports around the country to help stranded travelers. Some of them were affiliated with the International Refugee Assistance Project . Both the ACLU and IRAP deserve your support. That said, I will focus on something entirely superficial: the customs treatment of mewakh pipes. Fro...

I do a lot of NAFTA-related work. At least I do this week. It remains to be seen whether that changes soon. Secretary of Commerce designee Wilbur Ross told the Senate committee considering his nomination that his top priority would be renegotiating NAFTA . So, this may all change. As we sometimes have to tell clients, the situation is fluid. In the meantime, the NAFTA rules of origin continue in place. Often, for a product to qualify as originating, it must have a Regional Value Content of 50% when calculated with the net cost methodology or 60% when calculated with the transaction value methodology. There are exceptions, especially for automotive products. You need to check the rule applicable to your product in HTSUS General Note 12. Sometimes, producers are close but cannot hit the required RVC. There are a few means provided in the regulation for adding to the RVC. One of the best is the designation of a self produced material as an intermediate material. HQ H273100 (Jan. 6, 20...

Here, we continue our dive into the intersection of customs and trade law. The Court of International Trade decision in United Steels and Fasteners, Inc. v. United States , raises interesting issues about how scope decisions from the Department of Commerce impact customs entries awaiting liquidation. If you are a traditional customs compliance professional who does not often delve into trade questions, buckle up. This will be bumpy. This case involves the antidumping duty order on Helical Spring Lock Washers from China . The scope of this particular order covers: circular washers of carbon steel, of carbon alloy steel, or of stainless steel, heat-treated or non-heat-treated, plated or non-plated, with ends that are off-line. HSLWs are designed to: 1) function as a spring to compensate for developed looseness between the component parts of a fastened assembly; 2) distribute the load over a larger area for screw or bolts; and 3) provide a hardened bearing surface. The scope does...

Spin up the FTL drive and meet me in the CIC , the Federal Circuit has issued its first 2017 decision in an appeal from the Court of International Trade. Here is the sitrep : The case in question is Schlumberger Technology Corp. v. United States . The merchandise in question is bauxite proppants . These are the bits of granulated bauxite used in hydraulic fracturing operations to hold open cracks in the rock structures and, thereby, allow for the efficient extraction of oil and gas . In other words, these little bits of bauxite "prop" open the cracks. The proppants are produced from bauxite ore taken from the earth (or, in Hebrew, " Adama ") and milled to a powder then granulated to produce larger particles. The particles are sorted by size, dried and kiln fired. Customs classified the proppants in HTSUS Heading 6909 as "Ceramic wares for laboratory, chemical, or other technical uses; ceramic troughs, tubs, and similar receptacles of a kind used in agricul...

I like this ruling.  It is HQ H273101 (Nov. 4, 2016). This is a case where the importer made a NAFTA claim. When asked by Customs and Border Protection, the importer either could not or just did not support the claim. It happens. Sometimes, subsequent review turns up a problem with the NAFTA documentation. Sometimes, the broker should not have made the claim to start with. Lots of things happen in the real world. This particular product is a multi-sensor electro-optical surveillance and targeting turret from Canada. As you might imagine, a multi-sensor electro-optical surveillance and targeting turret is a piece of military equipment. When the NAFTA claim failed, the importer asserted that the merchandise is entitled to duty-free entry as war material certified as such by a military procuring agency under HTSUS item 9808.00.30. It submitted the necessary certificates. Customs liquidated the entry at the applicable 4.5% rate of duty and the importer protested. Custom...

It is a new year and a lot has changed in the world. People in my field are either excited about the possibilities of major changes in trade policy or are horrified by the possibilities of major changes in trade policy. I have had several calls about whether the U.S. will withdraw from NAFTA, impose new duties on goods made in Mexico by U.S.-based companies, and raise tariffs on goods from China. My answer so far has been, "I wish I knew." The new President and the new Congress will have a lot of authority under domestic law. The bigger questions will relate to how our trading partners respond. The U.S. has agreed many times to hold or lower duties. Going back on those promises will mean violating WTO obligations and multiple free trade agreements. Some people may not care. The U.S. remains fully sovereign and can violate any international agreements it choses. As a former partner used to say, "The WTO has no army." But, the WTO has the ability to authorize trad...

In real life, I represent importers and exporters who need to maintain compliance with U.S. laws and regulations concerning international trade. For the most part, that means customs law and export controls. As Bryan Garner once said at a seminar I attended, "hence the title" [of my blog]. One of the more complicated and potentially troublesome areas of compliance for importers involves antidumping and countervailing duty orders. The financial consequences of such an order can be dire for companies that entered into purchase contracts prior to the order or without knowing that an order applied to the goods. Often, the latter happens when suppliers assure the buyer that merchandise is either outside the scope of the order or from a source other than the subject country. Unfortunately, suppliers may be uninformed on the scope of the order, too happy to falsely state the origin of the product, or willing to misrepresent that it is otherwise outside the scope of ...

Note: I am writing this post while on vacation at an undisclosed location. The Internet here is lousy. I am paying a fair amount of money for "high speed access." Despite that, I feel like I am working on a vintage 3600 baud dial-up modem. Consequently, you will have to make do with two links. I might go back and fill in more when I have a decent connection. We just talked about a Customs and Border Protection ruling in which I complained about CBP straying from the traditional substantial transformation test of looking for a change in name, character, or use to determine country of origin. Now we run up against Energizer Battery, Inc. v.United States , in which the Court of International Trade addressed essentially the same question. The CIT started out strong and raised my expectations that we would see a very detailed analysis of the test. We did get a thorough and logical opinion. But, I still have some concerns. So, let’s walk through this. Under the Buy America ...