The Court of International Trade should throw out Wheatland Tube's case intended to compel CBP to respond to the company's requests for information and a tariff classification ruling because Wheatland has received all the relief to which it is legally entitled, the Department of Justice said in a Feb. 2 motion to dismiss the case. CBP has already responded to this RFI and the petition for a tariff classification ruling over the company's electrical conduits from Mexico, DOJ said. CBP also told Wheatland it agrees with the company's stance on the correct classification of its steel conduit pipe and was defending this position in separate litigation (Wheatland Tube Co. v. United States, CIT #22-00004).
Harmonized Tariff Schedule
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) is a reference manual that provides duty rates for almost every item that exists. It is a system of classifying and taxing all goods imported into the United States. The HTS is based on the international Harmonized System, which is a global standard for naming and describing trade products, and consists of a hierarchical structure that assigns a specific code and rate to each type of merchandise for duty, quota, and statistical purposes. The HTS was made effective on January 1, 1989, replacing the former Tariff Schedules of the United States. It is maintained by the U.S. International Trade Commission, but the Customs and Border Protection of the Department of Homeland Security is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the HTS.
An auto parts importer said the Department of Justice is overcomplicating and misstating the use of its diesel engine nitrogen oxide (NOx) sensors in defense of CBP's classification of the sensors as instruments for chemical analysis under Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9027. In a brief filed Jan. 31, Continental Automotive Systems says the NOx sensors, used to measure the amount of nitrogen oxide for emissions purposes, are instead provided for in heading 9026 as measurement devices (Continental Automotive Systems, Inc. v. U.S., CIT #18-00026).
Porsche Motorsports North America will appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a Dec. 30 Court of International Trade opinion that held that the company's auto parts and tools exported to Canada for use at auto races then re-imported don't qualify for duty-free treatment, it said in a Jan. 31 notice of appeal. Porsche sought duty-free treatment for its goods brought back into the U.S. under a goods returned tariff provision for "tools of the trade." While Porsche said that its goods were exported to support race teams, the trade court said that the auto parts were exported to generate sales to race teams rather than for a professional purpose, as required by the Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 9801.00.8500 (see 2201030038) (Porsche Motorsports North America v. U.S., CIT #16-00182).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Comfy, a wearable blanket imported by the Cozy Comfort Company, should be classified as a blanket rather than a pullover, the importer told the Court of International Trade in a Jan. 21 complaint. Due to its Sherpa interior lining and function as a blanket, The Comfy should be classified under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading for a blanket, the complaint said (Cozy Comfort Company v. United States, CIT #21-00404).
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
Just because Section 232 tariffs are placed in Chapter 99 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, this doesn't make them remedial tariffs, the Department of Justice told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a Jan. 14 brief. The tariffs also aren't temporary, don't count as a double remedy and can be deducted from an antidumping duty respondent's export price, the brief said (Borusan Mannesman Boru Sanayi ve Ticaret v. U.S., Fed. Cir. #21-2097).
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:
The Court of International Trade should compel CBP to respond to Wheatland Tube's request for information and request for a tariff classification ruling over certain electrical conduits from Mexico, Wheatland Tube told the Court of International in a Jan. 12 complaint. Seeking a writ of mandamus in a motion filed concurrently with the complaint, Wheatland alleges that certain importers, namely Shamrock Building Materials, are mis-labelling their imports to qualify for an exception to Section 232 steel and aluminum duties (Wheatland Tube Company v. United States, CIT #22-00004).