Furniture Importer Files Suit at CIT Over Section 301 Product Exclusions
CBP incorrectly denied protests seeking retroactive refunds of Section 301 duties for entries of furniture parts and boxes imported from China, importer Store Supply Warehouse said in an Aug. 4 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The protested items consisted of nine entries of hardware racks, three entries of jewelry boxes and 10 entries of showcase parts imported through the Port of Savannah (Store Supply Warehouse v. U.S., CIT # 23-00035).
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Store Supply asked the court to order CBP to grant Section 301 exclusions and to reliquidate all 22 of the entries as well as to refund excess duties and fees with interest.
On entry, Store Supply said, the items were correctly classified under statistical reporting numbers (SRNs) 9403.90.7080 for furniture parts of wood, 9403.90.8041 for furniture parts of metal, 9403.60.8081 for wooden furniture, and 4819.10.0040 for boxes of corrugated paper or paperboard. At that time, Store Supply paid an additional 25% or 10% duty under tariff schedule subheadings 9903.88.03 or 9903.88.09, respectively.
When USTR announced lists of product exclusions from the Section 301 tariffs, the relevant exclusions were inserted into the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. as subheading 9903.88.36, and later as subheading 9903.88.43. Those exclusions were retroactive to September 2018, the importer claimed. The granted exclusions included the four SRNs that Store Supply says properly described its entries as "printed cartons" under SRN 4819.10.0040; "cabinets of wood with glass front" under SRN 9403.60.8081; "parts of counters, racks, display cases, and similar fixtures of wood" under SRN 9403.90.7080; and "parts of counters, racks, display cases, and similar fixtures of base metal" under SRN 9403.90.8041.
Store Supply filed protests for each entry, all of which were denied by CBP. The company then filed suit in February.