The United States International Trade Commission (or ITC) is an independent, quasijudicial Federal agency with broad investigative responsibilities on matters of trade. The agency is charged with, amongst other things, adjudicating cases involving imports that allegedly infringe on intellectual property rights. When they have determined that imported goods do infringe on intellectual property rights, they … Read more
Antidumping duties are special duties imposed upon importers of specific commodities from certain countries when the U.S. Department of Commerce feels that such importation may be harmful to domestic producers of these goods. Because of the involvement of other government agencies to determine these duties, such as the Department of Commerce, the entry liquidation period … Read more
The use of a Carnet allows a principal to avoid posting of financial security at the time of entry, eliminates value added taxes (VAT) and simplifies customs procedures. This is done under the premise that the goods being imported will leave the country in the same condition that they were entered and will not be … Read more
Effective January 1, 2012, Customs and Border Protection will require all new bonds to be filed on the new bond form 301. At this time, Customs has advised that only new bonds filed with an effective date of January 1, 2012 or later must be on the new bond form. Existing bonds will not be … Read more
When an import is made into the U.S., the duties, taxes and fees are due to Customs within 10 days. The Periodic Monthly Statement Processing Program (PMS) allows the principal to pay these duties, taxes and fees on the 15th working day of the following month. This program is only offered for continuous Importer bonds … Read more
It has become ever more important for bond principals to keep their bonds up to date. In the last few years, Customs has initiated a number of policies that can have a serious affect on your client’s ability to operate. The most serious of which is a “bad address.” When Customs receives mail returned as … Read more
The periodic monthly statement program (see the side bar) is becoming more and more popular among importers. In a recent meeting with Customs, representatives of C.A. Shea learned that as many as 600 new importers a week sign up (or are signed up by their customs brokers) to pay their duties in this fashion. This … Read more
Reconciliation is a customs process in which participation requires a principal to add a special rider to their continuous importer bond. It allows an importer to estimate the value of goods entering the U.S. and pay any duties, taxes and fees based on that amount. After a period of 18-21 months, when the importer has determined the … Read more
Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) has recently abandoned its prolonged efforts to overturn a series of decisions in the United States Court of International Trade (“CIT”), in National Fisheries v. United States, which declared enhanced bonding requirements (“EBRs”) applied to surety bonds covering shrimp subject to antidumping duty unlawful. Under the EBR protocol, CBP required … Read more
On December 28, 2010, our office was notified by Customs that hundreds of Customs bonds were to be “shut off” by Customs due to a failure to comply with an obscure Customs requirement. This requirement states that a specific rider must be added to any bond used to import into the U.S. Virgin Islands. The … Read more
