US Seeks Over $100K From Surety in Unpaid Duties on Honey Imports From 2002
Surety company Aegis Security Insurance Co. must pay more than $100,000 in unpaid duties on an entry of honey from China imported in 2002, the U.S. argued in a Nov. 22 complaint at the Court of International Trade. The suit, filed under Section 1582, echoes another case brought against Aegis that looks to collect duties on entries of garlic that liquidated in 2006 (see 2211010037). The surety in that case has argued that the statute of limitations has passed for the action, claiming that the U.S. has a six-year window to file such action that runs from the date of liquidation. The U.S. says that this window starts from when CBP makes a demand for payment (United States v. Aegis Security Insurance Co., CIT # 22-00327).
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
In the present case, Presstek Wood Technologies imported an entry of honey from China. The imports were subject to an antidumping duty rate of 183.8%. Following an administrative review and judicial proceeding of the review, the final AD rate for the entry was 101.48%. The honey was deemed liquidated, though, at the original 183.8% rate since CBP did not liquidate the entry. CBP then reliquidated the entry at a 101.48% rate in 2016, sending Presstek a bill for $57,489.60, which it did not pay.
The bill became delinquent in November 2016. In February 2017, CBP made its first payment demand to Aegis for $57,868.20, the amount of the unpaid duties plus interest. Protesting the payment demand, Aegis argued that the entry had liquidated by operation of law and that CBP's reliquidation was illegal. CBP agreed that the reliquidation was illegal, pointing to 19 U.S.C. Section 1501, which says that a "liquidation made in accordance with section 500 [19 USCS § 1500] or any reliquidation thereof made in accordance with this section may be reliquidated in any respect by the Customs Service, notwithstanding the filing of a protest, within ninety days from the date on which notice of the original liquidation is given or transmitted to the importer, his consignee or agent."
In 2019, CBP then manually entered a liquidation for the entry, resulting in a new bill to Presstek in the amount of $100,634.18, which became delinquent in April 2019. CBP then demanded payment from Aegis in the amount of $100,700, the limit of the bond, plus interest. The agency now takes to the trade court to seek this payment, given the surety's failure to pay the bond.