CBP Issues Directive on GSP Refund Procedures
Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt LLP / http://gdlsk.com/firm-news/357-cbp-issues-directive-on-gsp-refund-procedures.html
On June 29, 2015, President Obama signed the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (H.R. 1295), which renewed the Generalized System of Preferences program (GSP), effective July 29, 2015 and retroactively to July 31, 2013. CBP has posted a directive on its website outlining how it intends to process duty refunds for GSP eligible merchandise which was entered between July 31, 2013, and July 29, 2015.
CBP states that it will process refunds for entries filed via the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) with the Special Program Indicator (SPI) "A," "A+," or "A*" for duties deposited on GSP-eligible goods during the lapse period from August 1, 2013 through July 28, 2015. CBP advises no action is required for such entries filed with SPIs "A," "A+,", or "A*" during the lapse period (July 31, 2013, and July 29, 2015). CBP has indicated that it will start issuing GSP refunds shortly after the effective date (i.e., July 29, 2015).
For entries that were made during the lapse period without using the SPI indicator, importers must affirmatively request refunds. The written request must contain sufficient information to enable Customs to identify the entry. For ACE summary entries where no SPI was transmitted, refund claims must be made via Post Summary Correction (PSC) unless the entry is outside the PSC 270 days filing period. For all other entries, importers will need to submit a written refund request to CBP.
Any refund requests must be received by CBP no later than December 28, 2015, and any refunds issued will be paid without interest. Customs is going to continue to collect duty on GSP eligible entries until July 29, 2015.
Notwithstanding the language in the GSP Directive regarding the submission of claims for refunds, section 201 of H.R. 1295 provides that “A liquidation or reliquidation may be made under subparagraph (A) with respect to an entry only if a request therefore is filed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act that contains sufficient information to enable U.S. Customs and Border Protection to locate the entry . . .” (Emphasis added.)
While it is clearly CBP’s stated intention to refund duties on GSP eligible transactions, importers and brokers should carefully consider the risk of relying upon CBP to identify those transactions and issue refunds without filing a formal notice of claim before December 28, 2015. In this regard, importers should confirm that their entries were filed with the appropriate GSP SPI and brokers should consider contacting their importer clients to identify those situations where the importer is content to rely upon CBP to take affirmative action on their potential GSP transactions without the submission of formal requests for refunds, regardless of how the entry was filed.
FMC: Chairman Cordero calls for Transparency in PierPASS operations under the West Coast MTO Agreement
Federal Maritime Commissinn / http://www.fmc.gov/cordero-transparency-pierpass/?CategoryId=14&F_All=y
On June 30, 2015, PierPASS announced a four percent increase in its Traffic Mitigation Fee (TMF), increasing it from $66.50 to $69.17 per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), to be in effect on August 1, 2015. In 2005, when the program was first implemented, the TMF was significantly lower at $40 per TEU. In light of this fee increase, I believe that PierPASS and the thirteen terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach should justify the continued need for the TMF, as well as the sustainability of annual TMF increases.
To avoid dissatisfaction from customers due to increased fees, PierPASS must be more transparent about the cost to operate off-peak shifts and the revenue collected from the TMF. I am a strong advocate for openness in the supply chain in order to promote a fair and efficient system, and believe it is time for PierPASS to critically self-assess its performance along five key dimensions: sun setting, service levels, fairness, transparency, and performance metrics.
Sun Setting:
- The MTOs (marine terminal operators) indicated that they would sunset the TMF after a critical mass of container cargo had moved from the peak to off-peak shifts. Ten years later, the TMF is still being imposed and increased even though nearly 55 percent of the container cargo subject to the fee now moves during off-peak shifts.
Service Levels:
- When the PierPASS program was first launched, the terminals promised five off-peak shifts per week. However, only four of the thirteen terminals currently provide five off-peak shifts a week, and one of them has announced that it plans to drop its weekend shift effective July 25th. Despite reduced service, the TMF continues to increase. PierPASS should justify why it is necessary to increase the TMF when the costs of off-peak gates should have decreased because most MTOs are no longer providing five off-peak shifts per week.
Fairness:
- Less than twenty percent of all containers moving through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are assessed the TMF. PierPASS should justify why such a small portion of container traffic bears the burden of paying for the off-peak shifts.
Transparency:
- Recently, the container terminals at Port Metro Vancouver started offering off-peak shifts, which are partially paid by a $50 truck reservation fee. Vancouver port officials independently audited how the assessed fee was calculated to ensure that the estimated revenue collected from the fee was not more than the estimated cost to operate the off-peak shifts. Perhaps it is now time that officials at the two San Pedro Bay Ports also independently audit the PierPASS program.
Performance Metrics:
- Given that drayage truckers and shippers must pay for off-peak gate operations at the thirteen San Pedro Bay container terminals, they have requested that each terminal provide data on truck queue and dwell times. The MTOs so far have rebuffed these requests. A METRIS study published in 2011 found that the fastest terminals were two to three times faster than the slowest terminals, and longer wait times were limited to just a few terminals. The MTOs should seriously consider publishing their individual queue and dwell times so that truckers and shippers can better utilize their operations. Truck queue and dwell times at Vancouver’s four container terminals are made public, so there is precedent in making this information available.
USITC Releases The Year in Trade 2014
U.S. International Trade Commission / http://www.usitc.gov/
The U.S. The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) today released The Year in Trade 2014, its annual overview of the previous year's trade-related activities.
The Year in Trade is one of the government's most comprehensive reports of U.S. trade-related activities, covering major multilateral, regional, and bilateral developments. The publication reviews U.S. international trade laws and actions under these laws, activities of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and developments regarding U.S. free trade agreements (FTAs), FTA negotiations, and U.S. bilateral trade relations with major trading partners in 2014.
The Year in Trade 2014 includes complete listings of antidumping, countervailing duty, safeguard, intellectual property rights infringement, and section 301 cases undertaken by the U.S. government in 2014. In addition, the 2014 report covers:
- the operation of U.S. trade preference programs, including the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, including initiatives for Haiti;
- significant activities in the WTO, including dispute settlement decisions; the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum;
- developments regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement, other U.S. FTAs, and negotiations regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and
- bilateral trade issues with major U.S. trading partners -- the European Union, Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Taiwan, and India.
The report also provides an overview of U.S. trade in goods and services during 2014. Statistical tables highlight U.S. bilateral trade with major trading partners and trade under U.S. trade preference programs and free trade agreements.
Complementing the release of the 66th edition of the report are a series of dashboards in MS Excel available online that present U.S. merchandise trade data in an interactive format. Readers of The Year in Trade 2014 will be able to conduct further analysis of U.S. merchandise trade with specific trading partners and U.S. trade under specific trade preference programs and FTAs using these dashboards, which are available on the Commission's website at http://www.usitc.gov/research_and_analysis/data_analysis_tools.htm.
CBP Seizes $3.2 M of Fake Hermès Belts in L.A.
LOS ANGELES — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers and Import Specialists assigned to the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport complex seized 3,960 high-fashion belts bearing counterfeit Hermès listed trademark. If genuine, the seized belts had an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $3,227,400.
“Counterfeit products are increasingly of a higher quality, making consumers easily deceived by fakes that look and feel real,” said Carlos Martel, CBP Port Director of the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport complex. “The flood of counterfeit products not only creates an enormous drain on the U.S. economy, but funds transnational criminal enterprises."
The merchandise, which arrived from China, was seized by CBP officers on June 18. In an attempt to evade detection, the shipment was manifested as “Plastic Besoms”.
Approximately $1.22 billion worth of counterfeit goods originating overseas were seized by CBP in 2014. China, Hong Kong, Canada, India and United Arab Emirates were the top five countries of origination for counterfeit goods seized by CBP last fiscal year.
Nationwide, wearing apparel and accessories comprised 28 percent of the number of counterfeit seizures by CBP last year. With an estimated MSRP of $113 million, wearing apparel and accessories represented 9 percent of the total value of goods seized.
CBP Port of Louisville Seizes Counterfeit Designer Merchandise during Operations
U.S. Customs & Border Protection / http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/2015-07-17-000000/cbp-port-louisville-seizes-designer-merchandise
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky—Consumers in the U.S. can shop with greater confidence knowing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers are on the frontlines preventing counterfeit merchandise from entering the country.
CBP officers conducting express-consignment operations in Louisville, Kentucky, recently seized a treasure trove of over 1,100 pieces of counterfeit designer jewelry with an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $562,729.
“CBP is committed to enforcing trade laws at our ports of entry, protect our nation’s revenue and identifying individuals who brazenly attempt to import counterfeit merchandise into the United States,” said Area Port Director Marc Hurteau.
This seizure was a part of daily operations for the Area Port of Cleveland and included CBP officers and import specialist assigned to express-consignment operations in Louisville, Kentucky. CBP officers in Louisville process over 40,000 parcels per night and make a variety of seizures including counterfeit checks, drugs, monetary instruments, fraudulent documents, and intellectual property rights violations. The largest seizure of counterfeit goods for this area took place in January 2015 when $12 million in counterfeit goods were seized in Operation Super Fake.
The enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights is a CBP Priority Trade Issue. Priority Trade Issues represent high-risk areas that can cause significant revenue loss, harm the U.S. economy, or threaten the health and safety of the American people. They drive the risk-informed investment of CBP resources as well as enforcement and facilitation efforts, including special enforcement operations, outreach, and regulatory initiatives.
Canada Hosts U.S. for Joint Import Safety Exercise
U.S. Customs & Border Protection / http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/national-media-release/2015-07-21-000000/canada-hosts-us-joint-import-safety-exercise-0
Ottawa, Canada – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has concluded a week-long joint “table top exercise” on handling import safety issues through multi-agency collaboration with Canada.
The joint Table Top Exercise (TTX) included officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center (CTAC), Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), and Health Canada. The exercise focused on critical incidents involving imported products that were found to be dangerous, hazardous and volatile, and helped both countries understand how the other would respond.
The exercise gave each participating agency a chance to present potential scenarios of import safety events that would have hazardous effects on the public. As scenarios were presented, each agency provided feedback to their respective counterparts. Those recommendations will be used to better protect U.S. and Canadian consumers.