The Court of International Trade upheld Customs and Border Protection denial Monday of EchoStar’s drawback claims as untimely. EchoStar filed the claims for duty refunds worth $276,275.12 in 2014 and early 2015, before new drawback procedures under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, including fully electronic filing, took effect. EchoStar transmitted its filing via the automated broker interface within the three-year deadline, but its paper claim, including CBP Form 7551 and supporting documentation, was filed too late, causing CBP to reject the claims. “CBP is ultimately not responsible for EchoStar’s failure to timely file complete drawback claims because of either the Guidance or CBP’s ‘late’ notice to EchoStar to provide additional documents,” said CIT, referring to guidance documents that EchoStar believed meant no paper documentation was necessary. The company had no immediate comment Tuesday.
The Court of International Trade upheld Customs and Border Protection denial Monday of EchoStar’s drawback claims as untimely. EchoStar filed the claims for duty refunds worth $276,275.12 in 2014 and early 2015, before new drawback procedures under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, including fully electronic filing, took effect. EchoStar transmitted its filing via the automated broker interface within the three-year deadline, but its paper claim, including CBP Form 7551 and supporting documentation, was filed too late, causing CBP to reject the claims. “CBP is ultimately not responsible for EchoStar’s failure to timely file complete drawback claims because of either the Guidance or CBP’s ‘late’ notice to EchoStar to provide additional documents,” said CIT, referring to guidance documents that EchoStar believed meant no paper documentation was necessary. The company had no immediate comment Tuesday.
Lawmakers should provide more funding for CBP officers, trade groups and companies said in a June 17 letter to appropriators. "We urge you to support the Administration’s request for supplemental appropriations to cover CBP operations for the remainder of this fiscal year," said the groups, which include the Border Trade Alliance, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "U.S. businesses rely on the safe and efficient movement of goods and people across our borders. However, recent activities by CBP in responding to the situation at the southern border are having enormous impacts on this flow of goods and people." Without more funding, businesses are worried "about increasingly serious disruptions to CBP’s critical customs and security work, and to the movement of people and goods at our borders" and ports of entry.
The Court of International Trade upheld on June 17 the denial by CBP of more than $276,275.12 in drawback claims from a video technology importer and exporter as untimely. The trade court found that, under CBP’s now-defunct 1993 drawback regulations, the date of filing is when a complete paper claim has been submitted, not when the electronic summary is transmitted. It also held CBP guidance documents did not give the wrong impression that no paper documentation was necessary for drawback claims.
The Customs Business Fairness Act, a bill that changes the treatment of customs brokers when their customers go into bankruptcy, has not gotten enough support, said Jon Kent, who lobbies on behalf of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, during a June 13 webinar.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 3-7 in case they were missed.
Mexico is extending a grace period for new requirements that took effect June 3 for importers to submit proof of compliance with certain Mexican product standards at the time of entry, the Confederation of Mexican Customs Broker Associations said on its website. Importers that have not yet obtained a certificate from a recognized certification body may nonetheless continue their current operations unchanged, as long as they submit their request for certification to the certification body by June 30 and include a receipt number for the request in their entry documentation. The grace period will last until Aug. 12. Mexico had previously announced that requests had to be submitted by May 31 to qualify (see 1905230061).
India customs will introduce paperless processing of exports in its Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) at the port of Visakhapatnam “along with other facilities across the country,” according to a report in the New Indian Express. The decision follows the successful implementation of electronic filing of supporting documents for exports under a pilot project in New Delhi and Chennai, the report said. The “shipping bill” and supporting documents such as the invoice, purchase order, license, certificate of analysis are to be submitted online by the exporter or customs broker, and the India customs officer will be able to view the documents for processing, the report said. "It is now mandatory to upload digitally signed supporting documents on ESANCHIT at the time of filing of shipping bills," Visakhapatnam customs said in a May 27 circular. "The exports/Customs Brokers should not be allowed to submit the supporting documents in hard copies, henceforth."
With ACE not ready, customs bond insufficiency issues, and importers unable to take on financial responsibility for tariffs on Mexican imports, the customs brokers who work at the California-Mexico border asked CBP and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to delay implementation of 5 percent tariffs past June 10. The Pacific Coast Council of Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Associations sent a letter June 5 saying that its members are alarmed "that it will be impossible to comply, as the mechanisms for compliance are not available between now and June 10th."
The California Assembly passed four privacy bills Tuesday and sent them to the Senate. Members voted 56-13 for AB-1202 to require data brokers to register with the California attorney general, giving the AG enforcement authority for violations of registration requirements. The Assembly voted 69-4 for AB-846 to make exceptions in the California Consumer Privacy Act for customer loyalty programs. Members voted 61-10 for AB-523, responding to reports that wireless carriers sold customers’ real-time data location, and 44-6 for AB-1395, meant to stop smart speakers from saving, storing or exchanging recordings with a third party, regardless of whether the device was triggered using a key phrase like “OK Google,” unless the consumer opts in. The Assembly passed two industry-favored bills tweaking CCPA last week (see 1905230051).