The Court of International Trade on July 13 found an importer negligently misclassified entries of bags for storing cold beverages, despite having consulted its customs broker as to the correct classification (here). Farhan Khan did not exercise reasonable care because he should have consulted other sources after receiving three conflicting suggestions from his broker, and improperly relied on his broker's opinion to classify related but different beverage bags, CIT said.
Federal Universal Service Fund
The FCC's Universal Service Fund (USF) was created by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to fund programs designed to provide universal telecommunications access to all U.S. citizens. All telecommunications providers are required to contribute a percentage of their end-user revenues to the Fund, which the FCC allocates for four core programs: 1. Connect America Fund, which subsidizes telecom providers for the increased costs of offering services to customers in rural and remote areas 2. Lifeline, which directly subsidizes low-income households to help pay for the cost of phone and internet service 3. Rural Health Care, which subsidizes health care providers to offer broadband telehealth services that can connect rural patients and providers with specialists located farther away 4. E-Rate, which subsidizes rural and low-income schools and libraries for internet and telecommunications costs The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) administers the USF on behalf of the FCC, but requires Congressional approval for its actions. Many states also operate their own universal service funds, which operate independently from the federal program.
Latest News on the Universal Service Fund
The Court of International Trade on July 11 dismissed a prospective importer's challenge to a recent CBP ruling on the admissibility of marijuana paraphernalia (here). CannaKorp had sought to directly challenge the ruling, which had found importation of its CannaCloud vaporizer illegal despite recent changes to state laws (see 1704100026), by bringing its lawsuit before actually importing the product. CIT found that CannaKorp did not demonstrate it was harmed enough by the ruling to challenge CBP's determination pre-importation.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of July 3-9:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 26 - July 2:
The Court of International Trade is proposing changes (here) to its rules that would eliminate its controversial “Reserve Calendar” and set time limits on CBP’s submission of entry documentation in cases challenging denied protests. Amendments to CIT Rule 83 (here) would replace the Reserve Calendar, where cases may remain indefinitely in 18-month increments, with a new “Customs Case Management Calendar.” There, cases would only be able to remain for four years without action before they are dismissed. Other changes would affect CIT Rules 41 (here), 56.2 (here), 73.1 (here), 82 (here), 83 (here), 84 (here) and 85 (here), Forms 9 (here) and 24 (here), and Specific Instructions for Form 24 (here). Comments are due July 26.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 19-25:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 12-18:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of June 5-11:
An importer’s conduct in a court case does not affect the amount of penalties that should be assessed for tariff misclassification, the Court of International Trade said in a decision issued June 7 (here). Although the government had sought $324,540 in penalties from Horizon Products International for the importer’s negligent misclassification of its plywood imports in a duty free tariff subheading, CIT instead authorized half that. A “significant penalty” was warranted for “slow-playing the Government,” but failure to cooperate in a court case should instead be addressed by other means, it said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of May 29 - June 1: