International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Feb. 4-8 in case they were missed.
Farrow and Shipware are partnering to provide customers one combined service for customs consulting and shipping solutions, the two companies announced in a Feb. 8 press release. Farrow, a customs broker, and Shipware, which helps businesses lower their shipping costs, said they “complement one another’s service” offerings and will provide clients with trade compliance and shipping experts in one place.
The recently announced $6 million penalty Fiat Chrysler (FCA) will pay to CBP to settle allegations it illegally imported non-compliant vehicles is based on claims that FCA, at the time of importation, “falsely represented that imported vehicles conformed with valid Certificates of Conformity and complied with all applicable environmental laws and regulations,” a CBP spokesman said. The settlement only involves FCA and CBP, and does not involve any other parties such as customs brokers, the spokesman said. The settlement is monetary in nature, with no new compliance program requirements. The agreement did not need court approval because CBP and FCA reached the settlement on their own, based only on CBP’s claims, and CBP was “not a party to the multi-district litigation overseeing [Environmental Protection Agency] and other claims against Fiat Chrysler,” he said. The Justice Department announced the penalty in January, as part of a total $500 million settlement related to allegations that FCA used devices to cheat emissions tests (see 1901100024).
Customs brokers should remain a key part of the global supply chain as CBP shifts to better operate in the modern trade environment, providing a “multiplier effect” to the agency’s education and data integrity efforts, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments to CBP dated Feb. 4. As e-commerce causes the number of importers to explode and the associated risks to increase accordingly, brokers should be considered “trusted partners, delivering the agency from the chaos of dealing with hundreds of thousands of importers,” the NCBFAA said.
The International Trade Commission posted the 2019 Basic Edition of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The new HTS implements the removal of Mauritania from eligibility for African Growth and Opportunity Act benefits, makes widespread changes to units of measure throughout the tariff schedule, and adds new statistical suffixes for infant footwear, aluminum foil and paper, among other products. Most changes took effect Jan. 1.
The Scarbrough Group, which includes customs brokerage Scarbrough International, named Adam Hill president and chief operating officer, it said in a press release. Hill, a licensed customs broker, began at the company in 2006 as an import operations account representative
CBP's Office of Trade will be examining the effects of the recent partial federal government shutdown and what needs to be prioritized now that government operations are being funded again, an agency spokesman said. "Approximately 95% of the Office of Trade’s staff were furloughed and not working during the shutdown," he said. The agency "will be spending much of the next few weeks assessing program-by-program impact, and determining what, if any, delays in policy implementation there will be (including to new [Form] 5106 deployment)," the spokesman said. "As we undertake these assessments, we will be communicating with trade stakeholders to apprise them of impact, anticipated adjustments to schedule, etc."
A federal court in California on Jan. 25 denied an e-commerce fulfillment company’s bid for victory in a lawsuit alleging it violated BMW’s trademarks by importing counterfeit goods. More information is needed to determine whether Win.It America can be held liable for counterfeiting as an importer, or if it isn’t responsible because it merely facilitated sales and placed shipping labels on the alleged counterfeit products, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said in its ruling.
CBP is now accepting claims for drawback on Section 301 duties on products from China, said John Leonard, executive director-trade policy and programs, on a conference call held Jan. 23 to discuss issues related to the ongoing federal government shutdown. The agency has fixed a bug in ACE that was preventing Section 301 drawback claims and is now able to begin processing, though the agency’s ability to resolve particular issues will be limited due to staffing issues caused by the ongoing shutdown, he said.
The Court of International Trade on Jan. 18 ordered an importer to pay more than $500,000 in penalties and unpaid duties for misclassifying goods that should have been subject to antidumping and countervailing duties, though it declined to impose the full amount requested by the government. Six Star Wholesale allegedly imported wire hangers and polyethylene retail carrier bags from China under the wrong tariff classifications, then failed to defend itself in court against the penalty action.