The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Dec. 19 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):
CBP has no authority to pay interest when refunding money voluntarily tendered with prior disclosures, DOJ argued in a Dec. 15 motion at the Court of International Trade. The government's motion was in response to phone case importer Otter Products' Sept. 12 motion for judgment, in which the company argued that 19 U.S.C. 1520(a)(3) "unambiguously authorizes" the treasury department to refund duties or other receipts whenever money is deposited in the Treasury (see 2209130029) (Otter Products v. United States, CIT #22-00033).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative stuck by its decision not to reinstate a Section 301 China tariff exclusion for drinking water cooler products, the agency said in Dec. 14 remand results submitted to the Court of International Trade. USTR said that while the availability of these goods from places outside of China is limited, the record shows that sources outside of China have picked up since 2018 with third-country imports growing "significantly in the first six months after the exclusion expired." While these sources, along with domestic production, fail to meet domestic demand, the record does not show that the additional duties are "impacting or resulting in severe economic harm to U.S. companies or other interests" (DS Services of America v. United States, CIT #22-00157).
Eight models of GoPro Hero camera housings are properly classified as camera cases under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 4202 and not parts, the government said in a Dec. 9 motion at the Court of International Trade. The brief opposed GoPro's Aug. 5 motion for summary judgment, in which the company argued the housings were duty-free parts under heading 8529 because the cameras cannot fulfill their primary hands-free function without them (see 2208080041). DOJ has asked the court to deny GoPro's motion and grant its own, which would dismiss the case (GoPro v. United States, CIT #20-00176).
CBP failed to pay a refund of Section 301 duties to Sonos for imports of wireless speakers and audio components for which exclusions had been granted, the importer argued in a Dec. 9 complaint at the Court of International Trade. Due to this alleged failure, Sonos is seeking over $229,000 in refunds of the Section 301 duties paid (Sonos v. U.S., CIT #22-00337).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
CIT Sends Back Use of Financial Statements for Surrogate Financial Ratios in AD Review on Mattresses
The Commerce Department must reconsider its reliance on a financial statement in an antidumping review to calculate surrogate financial ratios, the Court of International Trade ruled in a confidential Nov. 28 opinion made public Dec. 7. Judge Timothy Reif directed Commerce to reconsider or further explain the agency's conclusions that the statements were complete and publicly available. However, the judge did uphold Commerce's surrogate value for pocket coil innerspring units.
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York: