Increased CBP Scrutiny of Chinese Furniture Imports Painful but Necessary, Says DiNucci

There's been a lot of antidumping duties (ADD) evasion and transshipment in this space, "so we're hitting it pretty hard," said DiNucci. CBP headquarters has instructed the port personnel to pay special attention to such imports, so when the ports say the scrutiny is "pursuant to headquarters, you're looking at the reason why." The dumping issue is a "hot button issue" both politically and from an enforcement perspective, he said. When the problem arises, importers should talk to the local personnel as well as people at headquarters, including DiNucci, he said. "That's how critical the issue is."

CBP's position unnecessarily hurts some compliant trade, said NCBFAA's customs counsel Alan Klestadt. "I'm going to suggest there's got to be a better way, particularly with the ADD" he said. "The expense, the cost of the delay, that this approach, this enforcement approach, creates is substantial. Occasionally justifiably, but often not, and there's no reimbursement. There's no way to set that right once it's done." DiNucci said that while he understands those problems, in addition to a trade facilitation role, the agency is also tasked with protecting domestic industry. "Yes, it's an expense, it's an inefficiency, I got that. Unfortunately it's the system we've got in front of us and we're responsible to enforce and sometime enforcement creates inefficiencies."

The updated CBP Form 5106 will eventually be helpful in dealing with a lot of these questions, "but I'm not there," he said. "We are looking at these shipments and we are looking at them with a very very close eye right now because we have seen a lot of violations," DiNucci said. Brokers who have a client with a commodity that is subject to dumping, "but you don't believe their shipment is because its coming from Malaysia, not China, then I strongly suggest you reach out " to explain and show how it's being shipped. DiNucci said he is now shooting to have an updated CBP Form 5106 available by August.

The CBP Office of Rulings and Regulations (OR&R) was another focus of complaints. Klestadt voiced frustration with that office on "getting rulings out, their inaccessibility, the delay, the lack of an independent review for a restrictive thought on a number of issues." It's a "fair criticism" and CBP has started to take closer look at OR&R, said DiNucci. On average, it takes CBP 26.5 days to resolve a prospective ruling, which is "not too bad," he said. The bigger problem is with applications for further review and protests, which can take as long as two years, he said.

CBP has started to look at the issue "from the perspective of how many attorneys do we need and that kind of opened up a discussion about why is this taking so long and what we can do to change it," he said. In some cases, there's a cultural issue where some lawyers "believe they are above the fray" and don't have to take some phone calls, said DiNucci. The agency will deal the problem either "by numbers" or change in the "standards by which they are appraised," he said. CBP will also soon release a draft revised version of its informed compliance publication on bona fide sales, said DiNucci. He emphasized that the coming draft is not a change in policy and the agency will seek input on the publication.