Newly Released CBP HQ Rulings April 16
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated April 16 with the following headquarters rulings (ruling revocations and modifications will be detailed elsewhere in a separate article as they are announced in the Customs Bulletin):
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H332966: Application for Further Review of Protest No. 460121129775; Antidumping Duties; Countervailing Duties; Solar Modules
| Ruling: The solar modules at issue are subject to the antidumping and countervailing duties. The protest should be DENIED in full. |
| Issue: Are the solar modules at issue subject to antidumping duties and countervailing duties? |
| Item: Four entries of “solar module[s] with entry dates of May 17, 2018; June 8, 2018; August 3, 2018; and August 16, 2018. The solar modules were entered as type “01” entries under subheadings 8541.40.60; 8541.40.60; or 8541.40.60, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. HT Solar was identified as the importer of record. CBP found that HT Solar did not provide adequate information to establish that the solar cells used in the solar modules were made in a country other than China. The entries were rate advanced pursuant to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s antidumping and countervailing duty orders. |
| Reason: While there are documents in the evidence provided by HT Solar to show that the “wafers” were shipped from China to HT Solar in Istanbul, Turkey, there is insufficient evidence to establish that the p/n junction was added to the “wafers” in Turkey rather than in China. HT Solar may assert that it added the p/n junction to these “wafers” at its manufacturing facility in Istanbul, Turkey, but as illustrated above, the pictures provided with the protest purporting to show this may actually be of another factory owned by an entity unrelated to HT Solar. HT Solar has failed to reconcile this discrepancy and it is unclear where (and by which entity) the p/n junction was added. The documents relating to the entries at issue that purport to trace the cell production process at HT Solar all say "HT-SAAE" (which according to HT Solar is a Chinese state-owned enterprise) on them, not HT Solar. As a result of the inconsistencies, HT Solar has failed to make a prima facie case to show that the p/n junction was added to the “wafers” in Turkey and not China. Thus, the presumption of correctness of CBP’s determination remains intact. |
| Ruling Date: Feb. 14, 2024 |