Wire Hanger Importer Challenges Constitutionality of EAPA Process
A Washington importer is challenging the constitutionality of the Enforce and Protect Act's determination process in the Court of International Trade. Leco Supply, having found itself on the wrong side of an EAPA final administrative determination into wire hangers imported from Laos, said in a March 25 complaint that CBP's process in deciding EAPA claims denied it the opportunity to view the confidential documents that CBP relied on to make its determination, depriving the importer of its constitutional due process rights.
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Mirroring a similar claim made by a shrimp industry group March 23 (see 2103240069), Leco Supply also said CBP failed to provide public summaries of the business confidential information submitted in the case -- a requirement of any EAPA determination. The importer also said CBP handled the importer's own business confidential submissions differently from those of other importers involved in the consolidated EAPA case, often rejecting them for containing too much bracketed information when others were accepted that were entirely confidential.
Leco Supply also says CBP ignored evidence from Leco Supply and placed an incorrect burden of proof on the importer to prove that its imports were made in Laos. In its filing, Leco Supply said CBP's EAPA determination was made on scant evidence. “In basing its assessment of 'much of' the evidence submitted by Leco Supply on a single document relating to packaging, and disregarding entirely hard evidence relating to the actual materials used in production of the wire hangers in question, CBP knowingly and materially mischaracterized the record evidence,” the complaint read.
Leco Supply also holds that CBP violated EAPA procedural regulations by failing to provide a mechanism in which all interested parties can view public documents related to the administrative record. CBP recently announced a new EAPA web portal (see 2103230034).
Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of Leco Supply's complaint.