CIT Orders Defunct Florida Company to Pay Penalty for Misclassification of Dairy Imports, Undervaluation

The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 ordered a now-defunct Florida importer to pay more than $130,000 in penalties and unpaid duties for misclassification and undervaluation of its dairy products. Chavez Import & Export (CIE), which was dissolved in 2008, misclassified its “soft dairy express” and “white cheese,” resulting in underpayment of AD duties, and declared duty preferences under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA) despite preferences not being available under the correct classification, CIT said. The company also undervalued some entries so they could be processed as informal without surety bonds, and “did not provide meaningful descriptions of the products” on entry documentation. CIE did not defend itself in the case, so CIT automatically took the government’s allegations as true and found CIE committed negligent violations of 19 USC 1592. CIT had already ordered the company’s vice president, Juan Chavez, to pay a penalty in 2016 for the same violations (see 1603280014).