International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 8-12 in case they were missed.
CBP released its May 10 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 51, No. 19) (here). It includes a withdrawal of proposed ruling changes involving the Jones Act (see 1705090033), as well as recent CBP notices and Court of International Trade opinions. CBP also issued a notice on its receipt of a "Lever-Rule" protection application from Procter & Gamble for laundry detergents with the "TIDE" trademark intended for sale outside the U.S. The company would like CBP to stop importation of the products intended for sale in countries outside the U.S., known as gray market products. CBP will grant such protection, which is known as Lever-Rule protection, if it finds the parts are physically and materially different from the products intended for sale in the U.S., it said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 1-7:
The Court of International Trade on May 5 imposed the maximum allowable penalty on an importer and its executive for misclassifying entries of sugar (here). The now-defunct International Trading Services (ITS) and its President, CEO and managing member Julio Lorza will pay $295,655.77 in unpaid duties and a penalty of $691,311.54 for negligently misrepresenting that the sugar qualified for a tariff provision dutiable at about 3 cents per kilogram when it was actually dutiable at a rate of about 35 cents. The court’s decision was partially the result of Lorza’s and ITS’s failure to respond to the government’s penalty motion.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 24-30:
CBP released its April 26 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 51, No. 17) (here). While it does not contain any rulings, it does include recent CBP notices and Court of International Trade opinions.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 17-23:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 10-16:
CBP released its April 19 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 51, No. 16) (here). While it does not contain any rulings, it does include recent CBP notices and Court of International Trade opinions.
Hand tools imported by Irwin Industrial Tools are classifiable in the tariff schedule as either pliers or vises, not wrenches, the Court of International Trade said in an opinion issued April 12 (here). Ruling against CBP’s classification, the court held that the hand tools lack the qualities of a wrench even though they may be used to perform the task of a wrench. Instead, a physical examination showed that they are most similar to pliers and vises, CIT said, leaving it up to Irwin to argue which one.