Importers seeking suspended liquidations of customs entries from China with Section 301 Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure under the July 6 preliminary injunction (PI) order of the U.S. Court of International Trade would need to file their requests in a “repository” to be set up in the Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment database and back them up with emails to their appropriate CBP Center of Excellence and Expertise (CEE), say draft DOJ instructions (in Pacer) filed with the court Friday in docket 1:21-cv-52. “We have conferred with plaintiffs and understand that they will respond separately with their responses to these draft instructions,” said DOJ attorneys. Akin Gump lawyers for sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products didn’t comment. They're expected to repeat many of the same objections plaintiffs' steering committee lawyers raised at a July 23 status conference that the government, in complying with the PI order to suspend liquidations, wants to put too much onus on importers in processing liquidation-suspension requests. The instructions would establish 11 CEE “mailboxes” for importers to email their requests, each for a specific product sector with Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure. Importers would be required to attach Excel spreadsheets to their emails listing seven “columns” of information the government says CBP requires to process suspension requests. Plaintiffs’ steering committee lawyers countered at the status conference that much of the information CBP seeks from importers already resides in the ACE system. The court requires the government to have the repository up and running by Aug. 6. It scheduled another status conference for Monday at 2 p.m.

Importers seeking suspended liquidations of customs entries from China with Section 301 Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure under the July 6 preliminary injunction (PI) order of the U.S. Court of International Trade would need to file their requests in a “repository” to be set up in the Customs and Border Protection’s Automated Commercial Environment database and back them up with emails to their appropriate CBP Center of Excellence and Expertise (CEE), say draft DOJ instructions (in Pacer) filed with the court Friday in docket 1:21-cv-52. “We have conferred with plaintiffs and understand that they will respond separately with their responses to these draft instructions,” said DOJ attorneys. Akin Gump lawyers for sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products didn’t comment. They're expected to repeat many of the same objections plaintiffs' steering committee lawyers raised at a July 23 status conference that the government, in complying with the PI order to suspend liquidations, wants to put too much onus on importers in processing liquidation-suspension requests. The instructions would establish 11 CEE “mailboxes” for importers to email their requests, each for a specific product sector with Lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure. Importers would be required to attach Excel spreadsheets to their emails listing seven “columns” of information the government says CBP requires to process suspension requests. Plaintiffs’ steering committee lawyers countered at the status conference that much of the information CBP seeks from importers already resides in the ACE system. The court requires the government to have the repository up and running by Aug. 6. It scheduled another status conference for Monday at 2 p.m.

Importers seeking suspended liquidations of customs entries from China with Section 301 lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure under the July 6 preliminary injunction (PI) order of the Court of International Trade would need to file their requests in a “repository” to be set up in CBP's ACE database and back them up with emails to their appropriate CBP Center of Excellence and Expertise (CEE), say draft DOJ instructions filed with the court Friday in docket 1:21-cv-52. “We have conferred with plaintiffs and understand that they will respond separately with their responses to these draft instructions,” DOJ attorneys said. Akin Gump lawyers for sample case plaintiffs HMTX Industries and Jasco Products didn’t immediately comment. Lawyers on the plaintiffs' steering committee may repeat many of the same objections they raised at a July 23 status conference that the government, in complying with the PI order to suspend liquidations, is putting too much onus on importers for CBP's processing of their liquidation-suspension requests.

The Court of International Trade postponed for two weeks an Aug. 6 deadline for CBP to create the repository through which Section 301 importers can seek to freeze liquidations of customs entries from China with lists 3 and 4A tariff exposure under the court's July 6 preliminary injunction (PI) order. Judge Claire Kelly told a status conference Aug. 2 that the court also is postponing for two weeks the Aug. 6 deadline for plaintiffs and the government to propose modifications to the PI order.

The following are short summaries of recent CBP “NY” rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, introduced a bill that would create a chief pharmaceutical negotiator at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and would ask USTR to investigate whether Section 301 actions should be taken against high-income countries that impose price controls on American-made pharmaceuticals. The USTRx Act text was published July 26. Arrington is asking the agency to investigate if the price controls are discriminatory, if the countries deny reciprocal market access to U.S. products, and if the price controls "are not market-based or do not appropriately recognize the value of innovative medicines" and "diminish incentives for innovation in a manner that delays, prevents, or otherwise adversely impacts the introduction of new medicines in the United States."

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

The following lawsuits were recently filed at the Court of International Trade:

A Court of International Trade case seeking Section 301 tariff exclusions for frozen tillapia fillets from China should be stayed until litigation is completed in the massive Section 301 litigation, the Department of Justice said in a July 26 motion to stay. The case, brought by Global Food Trading Corp., featured two protests on CBP's handling of the entries: one seeking reclassification of the fillets under Harmonized Tariff Schedule subheading 0304.61.00 and another seeking the Section 301 exclusions under secondary subheading 9903.88.43. CBP approved the first protest but denied the second. DOJ now requests a stay of litigation over the second protest until a decision is reached and all appeals are concluded in the broader Section 301 challenge involving over 3,500 separate complaints. "It would be an inefficient use of the parties’ and the Court’s resources to litigate the defenses to the Second Cause of Action now, when the merits underlying plaintiff’s claim are being litigated in a separate proceeding, and have not yet come to finality," the motion said (Global Food Trading Corp. v. United States, CIT #21-00263).