C-AIR TIMES SUE #543 - Friday, August 31, 2018 08:03

Deadline for Filing GSP Retroactive Duty Refund Request - September 19, 2018 - U.S. Customs & Border Protection

Deadline for Filing GSP Retroactive Duty Refund Request – September 19, 2018 

On Friday, March 23, 2018, the President signed into law H.R.1625 (Public Law 115-141), the "Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018," which reauthorized the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption, from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020.  The new law, effective April 22, 2018, also provided for the retroactive refund of all duties, without interest; to the importer of record (IOR) of GSP-eligible goods entered during the January 1, 2018 through April 21, 2018 lapse period.  

Status - Phased GSP retroactive duty refund:

Phase I – CBP has completed the auto refund processing of importations entered during the lapse with special program indicator (SPI) “A” and checks are forthcoming. 

Phase II – CBP will begin processing shortly the manual refunds of importations entered during the lapse with the SPI “A” that may be subject to additional review (i.e., AD/CVD, 232 remedy, reconciliation, etc.) 

Phase III – Importers wishing to claim GSP preference on importations entered during the lapse period without the SPI “A” must input a Post Summary Correction (PSC) or protest (CBP will accept a protest, although not a true 19 USC § 1514)to the corresponding Port team or Center of Excellence and Expertise team requesting the GSP refund no later than September 19, 2018. 

Phase III GSP Duty Refund PSC or Protest 

GSP refund requests may be submitted as either a PSC if the entry summary is not liquidated, or a protest if the entry summary has liquidated, in accordance with 19 CFR 174. CBP reserves the right to reject the duty refund request if the importer does not provide sufficient line-level data. 

Request Deadline Per H.R. 1625 (Title V) (Public Law 115-141) 

(https://www.congress.gov/115/bills/hr1625/BILLS-115hr1625enr.pdf), CBP will deny all GSP duty refund requests received after September 19, 2018, unless the request is a re-submission of a previously submitted and improperly denied request. 

Additional Information - CBP’s GSP page is available at https://www.cbp.gov/trade/priority-issues/trade-agreements/special-trade-legislation/generalized-system-preferences. 

CSMS 18-000296, Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Reinstated Through December 31, 2020, of April 20, 2018, is available at https://csms.cbp.gov/viewmssg.asp?Recid=23495&page=&srch_argv="18-000296"&srchtype=&btype=&sortby=&sby=

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the affirmative preliminary determinations in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of rubber bands from China and Thailand, finding that exporters have dumped rubber bands in the United States at margins of 27.27 percent for China, and from 0.00 to 5.86 percent for Thailand.

As a result of today’s decisions, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of rubber bands from China and Thailand based on these preliminary rates.
In 2017, U.S. imports of rubber bands from China and Thailand were valued at an estimated $4.9 million and $12.1 million, respectively. 

The petitioner is Alliance Rubber Company (AR). 

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 122 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – this is a 221 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

Antidumping and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 456 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

Commerce is scheduled to announce the final determination on or about November 14, 2018 for the China investigation, and on or about January 21, 2019 for the Thailand investigation.

If Commerce makes an affirmative final determination, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be scheduled to make its final injury determinations for China and Thailand on or about December 28, 2018, and on or about March 4, 2018, respectively.  If Commerce makes affirmative final determinations of dumping and the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue AD orders.  If Commerce makes negative final determinations of dumping or the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued. 

Click HERE for a fact sheet on today’s decisions.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade laws and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international law and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.

Foreign companies that price their products in the U.S. market below the cost of production or below prices in their home markets are subject to antidumping duties.

Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the affirmative preliminary determination in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigation of imports of certain steel wheels from China, finding that exporters received countervailable subsidies ranging from 58.75 to 172.51 percent.

As a result of today’s decision, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect cash deposits from importers of certain steel wheels from China based on these preliminary rates.  

In 2017, U.S. imports of certain steel wheels from China were valued at an estimated $388 million. 

The petitioners are Accuride Corporation (Evansville, IN) and Maxion Wheels Akron LLC (Akron, OH).

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 120 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – this is 186 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

Antidumping duty and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 456 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

Commerce is scheduled to issue the final determination on or about January 7, 2019.

If Commerce makes an affirmative final determination, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be scheduled to make its final injury determination on or about February 21, 2019.  If Commerce makes an affirmative final determination in this investigation and the ITC makes an affirmative final injury determination, Commerce will issue a CVD order.  If Commerce makes a negative final determination or the ITC makes a negative final determination of injury, the investigation will be terminated and no order will be issued.

Click HERE for a fact sheet on today’s decision.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade laws and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international law and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.

Imports from companies that receive unfair subsidies from their governments in the form of grants, loans, equity infusions, tax breaks and production inputs are subject to countervailing duties aimed at directly countering those subsidies.

Today (8/28/18), the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the affirmative preliminary determinations in the countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of glycine from China and India, and the negative preliminary determination in the CVD investigation of imports of glycine from Thailand.  The Department of Commerce found that exporters received countervailable subsidies ranging from:

China – 144.01 percent
India – 3.03 to 26.07 percent
Thailand – 0.00 percent

As a result of today’s decisions, Commerce will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to collect cash deposits from importers of glycine from China and India based on these preliminary rates.  Because of the negative preliminary determination for Thailand, Commerce will not instruct CBP to require cash deposits from importers of glycine from Thailand.

In 2017, U.S. imports of glycine from China, India, and Thailand were valued at an estimated $1.1 million, $6.7 million, and $4.4 million, respectively. 

The petitioners are GEO Specialty Chemicals, Inc. (Lafayette, IN) and Chattem Chemicals, Inc. (Chattanooga, TN).

The strict enforcement of U.S. trade law is a primary focus of the Trump Administration. Since the beginning of the current Administration, Commerce has initiated 120 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations – this is 186 percent increase from the comparable period in the previous administration.

Antidumping and countervailing duty laws provide American businesses and workers with an internationally accepted mechanism to seek relief from the harmful effects of the unfair pricing of imports into the United States. Commerce currently maintains 456 antidumping and countervailing duty orders which provide relief to American companies and industries impacted by unfair trade.

Commerce is currently scheduled to issue the final determinations on or about November 13, 2018 for China, and January 7, 2019 for India and Thailand, respectively.

If Commerce makes affirmative final determinations, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) will be scheduled to make its final injury determinations on or about December 28, 2018 for China, and February 21, 2019 for India and Thailand, respectively. If Commerce makes affirmative final determinations in these investigations and the ITC makes affirmative final injury determinations, Commerce will issue CVD orders. If Commerce makes negative final determinations or the ITC makes negative final determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated and no orders will be issued.

Click HERE for a fact sheet on today’s decisions.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Enforcement and Compliance unit within the International Trade Administration is responsible for vigorously enforcing U.S. trade laws and does so through an impartial, transparent process that abides by international law and is based on factual evidence provided on the record.

Imports from companies that receive unfair subsidies from their governments in the form of grants, loans, equity infusions, tax breaks, and production inputs are subject to countervailing duties aimed at directly countering those subsidies.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Yesterday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers working at the Peace Bridge discovered approximately 44 pounds of alleged marijuana from three separate commercial shipments all destined to the same location.
 
CBP officers working at the Peace Bridge warehouse selected three separate commercial shipments totaling four boxes for inspection.  Upon opening the boxes, CBP officers discovered 40 clear wrapped bundles containing what appeared to be marijuana.  The contents of the bags field-tested positive for the properties of marijuana and weighed just over 44 pounds.
 
In addition to this seizure, as well as the seizure of 78 pounds of marijuana on August 22, officers at the Peace Bridge commercial warehouse have seized a total of 11 shipments containing just over 145 pounds of marijuana worth approximately $145,000.
 
“Our officers have stopped a significant amount of drugs from reaching their intended destination,” said Buffalo Port Director Cary Frieling. “CBP officers are America’s first line of defense against smugglers and criminals and work tirelessly to defend our borders and enforce the laws of the United States.”
 
In fiscal year 2017, officers in the Buffalo Field Office made 640 narcotic seizures - a 6 percent increase from fiscal year 2016.
 
CBP Field Operations is responsible for securing our borders at the ports of entry. U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers’ primary mission is anti-terrorism; they screen all people, vehicles, and goods entering the U.S., while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel into and out of the U.S.  Their mission also includes carrying out traditional border-related responsibilities, including narcotics interdiction, enforcing immigration law, protecting the nation’s food supply and agriculture industry from pests and diseases, and enforcing trade laws

It is back-to-school time in the U.S., which means 50 million more reasons drivers should concentrate on driving safely -- especially around schools, school buses, bus stops, crosswalks and bicycles.   About 50 million students attend America’s public elementary and secondary schools.  Over 35 million are in prekindergarten through 8th grade.  Most have been on summer break and will be heading back to school in the coming weeks.  Kids will be commuting to school on foot, by bicycle and by school bus or private vehicles.

Nearly 300 children were killed in school transportation-related crashes from 2007-2016.  These are preventable deaths, lives cut tragically short.  98 of these children were pedestrians struck by a vehicle.  School buses are the safest way for children to commute to and from school.  Yet, nearly two-thirds of school-age pedestrians fatally-injured in school transportation-related crashes are struck when getting on or off a school bus – either by the bus (62%) or other vehicles (38%).  So all drivers have got to be extra careful in proximity to school buses and parents need to teach children how to safely board and exit a bus.
Parents should also impress upon their children that they should not jaywalk and should always look both ways (left-right-left) before crossing any street.  And, of course, those children riding bicycles should wear a good bike helmet.  The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration website offers many more tips for parents to help their children travel safely to and from school.

Drivers should be especially vigilant during the morning and afternoon hours when children are commuting to and from school.  From 2007-2010, 80% of school-age pedestrians killed were struck by vehicles between 6:00-8:00 a.m. and 2:00-5:00 p.m.  72% of the 174 children fatally injured while in school buses or other vehicles were killed during those same hours.  Children can move quickly, and it’s more important than ever for drivers to be alert and able to react quickly and not be impaired by fatigue, medications or any other substances.