Immigrations and Customs Enforcement reported another seizure of drugs from a vessel arriving at the Port of Norfolk. The seizure of two kilograms each of cocaine and heroin, concealed in the ceiling of a bathroom on the vessel, comes on the heels of the report last week that a joint task force had seized about 35 kilograms of cocaine at the Port of Norfolk in separate drug smuggling ventures. On July 27, the task force seized 32 kilograms of cocaine off of a vessel arriving into the Port of Norfolk, ICE said. On Aug. 4, the task force seized three kilograms of cocaine from a container vessel that was due into Hampton Roads. No arrests have been made and no crew members are suspected of being involved, ICE said.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Court of International Trade’s 2011 ruling against Shell’s duty drawback claims for Harbor Maintenance Tax and Environmental Tax payments. In June 2011, CIT said the claims were time barred because duty drawback claims may only be filed within the three years after exporting the substitute merchandise. Shell had filed duty drawback claims in 1995 and 1996, within the three-year window, but its claims only requested drawback on import duties, and not on the HMT and ET payments. Shell didn’t file new duty drawback claims for HMT and ET payments during the six-month grace period for untimely drawback claims offered by Congress’ 1999 amendments to the drawback statute, either.
The Court of International Trade dismissed Hartford Fire Insurance Company’s attempt to void or discharge bonds securing duties on entries made by an importer that violated U.S. import laws. The bonds at issue secured duties on entries subject to the antidumping duty order on frozen cooked crawfish tailmeat from China (A-570-848). Sunline, the importer, failed to pay the duties owed, and CBP made a demand on Hartford for payment on eight single entry bonds. But Hartford said, among other things, that CBP should have told it that Sunline was under investigation at the time, and that CBP’s silence constituted misrepresentation that voided the bonds. CIT said CBP was not required to disclose the investigation, and the decision to allow bonds in lieu of cash deposits was at CBP’s discretion. Because Hartford did not claim that CBP abused this discretion, CIT dismissed Hartford’s claim without prejudice. CIT also dismissed three other claims, two with prejudice.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Court of International Trade’s February 2011 decision against a customs broker that sought to compel CBP to issue a ruling on its protests. In its decision, CIT had said customs broker Norman G. Jensen still had an administrative remedy in the form of accelerated disposition to force a protest ruling, so CIT had no subject matter jurisdiction for lack of exhaustion. CAFC agreed with CIT, saying Jensen should have requested an accelerated disposition of the protest with CBP and filed suit under 28 USC 1581(a) should the protest have been deemed denied, rather than filing suit under 28 USC 1581(i) before the protest was decided.
A Puerto Rican man faces up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty by a jury on federal charges stemming from his role as a key operative for a drug ring that distributed large quantities of Chinese-made counterfeit pharmaceuticals throughout the U.S. and worldwide, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Francis Ortiz Gonzalez was convicted on one count of conspiracy and seven counts of trafficking in counterfeit pharmaceuticals. The indictment alleges Ortiz Gonzalez acted as U.S.-based distributor for a criminal enterprise, allegedly headed by Bo Jiang, a Chinese national whose last known residence is New Zealand. In January 2011, Jiang was taken into custody on a provisional arrest warrant by authorities in New Zealand, ICE said, but fled shortly after being released on bond.
Voidance requests do not extend the 180-day deadline for challenging CBP protest denials at the Court of International Trade, said CIT in its dismissal of plaintiff Sears Holdings Management’s customs classification challenge. Sears had filed a request with CBP to void denial of its classification protest, which was denied, and a protest of CBP’s denial of its voidance request, which CBP rejected on the grounds that voidance requests are not protestable. Sears then filed suit at CIT within the 180-day period after its voidance request protest was rejected, but more than 180 days after its original protest was denied. In its decision, CIT said it has no jurisdiction over the matter because (1) voidance requests do not extend the 180-day deadline for challenges of CBP protests, so Sears’ challenge of the original protest denial was untimely filed; and (2) denials of voidance requests are non-reviewable agency actions which cannot themselves be challenged at CIT. Therefore, CIT dismissed Sears’ challenge.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed part the Court of International Trade’s July 2010 dismissal of Ford’s request to liquidate and refund duties paid on ten reconciliation entries of imported Jaguar brand vehicles that Ford argued should have been deemed liquidated. In 2010, CIT had dismissed Ford’s claims for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and lack of controversy, and had declined to issue a judgment on other claims. CAFC reversed CIT’s jurisdiction ruling because CIT’s ruling was based on events that occurred after Ford filed its court complaint, reversed CIT’s dismissal for lack of controversy, and vacated CIT’s decision to dismiss other Ford claims.
A Hampton Roads-based multi-agency task force seized about 35 kilograms of cocaine at the Port of Norfolk in the past two weeks in separate drug smuggling ventures, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. On Aug. 4, the task force seized three kilograms of cocaine from a container vessel due into Hampton Roads. The seizure resulted in the arrest of two individuals, neither of whom were ship crewmembers, ICE said. The task force had already seized 32 kilograms of cocaine July 27, hidden in a cargo hold of a vessel arriving into the Port of Norfolk. ICE said it believes the cocaine, which has an estimated street value of $1 million, came from Colombia and was destined for Europe. None of the crewmembers from the ship involved in the July 27 seizure were suspected of being involved and no arrests were made.
The Court of International Trade delayed its decision in a case involving the International Trade Administration’s use of “zeroing” in administrative reviews, pending resolution of the appeal of CIT’s ruling in Union Steel v. U.S., currently before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Although plaintiffs and defendants opposed staying the case, which involves the final results of the 2009-10 administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from India (A-533-840), CIT said the delay will serve the interest of judicial economy and will conserve the resources of the parties. According to CIT, neither plaintiffs nor defendant showed any harm that would have resulted from the stay.
Pfizer subsidiary Pfizer H.C.P. Corp. agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to resolve an investigation of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. Pfizer Inc. and Wyeth LLC also reached settlements with the Securities and Exchange Commission under which Pfizer Inc. agreed to pay more than $26.3 million, including interest, to resolve concerns involving the conduct of its subsidiaries. Wyeth, which had been acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2009, agreed to pay $18.8 million, including interest, to resolve concerns involving the conduct of Wyeth subsidiaries.