Colorado-based Ellab Inc. and its Danish parent company, Ellab A/S, paid the U.S. over $700,000 to settle charges that it failed to pay customs duties on imports of thermal validation equipment, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado announced Dec. 1. The U.S. alleged Ellab failed to classify its imports and properly declare their value, neglecting to pay the full amount of the duties owed on the goods.
Country of origin cases
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The following are short summaries of recent CBP NY rulings issued by the agency's National Commodity Specialist Division in New York:
The Court of International Trade in a Dec. 1 opinion rejected the U.S.' motion to partially dismiss the alternative claims of jurisdiction in a case over the Commerce Department's assessment of antidumping duties. Judge Gary Katzmann said the question of the opinion was whether a party can dismiss an alternatively pleaded ground of jurisdiction. The judge said that since the U.S.'s motion "as styled is not the proper vehicle," the motion is denied.
Grand Prairie, Texas, resident Suhaib Allababidi pleaded guilty Nov. 30 to lying to the government about the origin of his company's products, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas announced. The defendant and his company, 2M Solutions, both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. The company also pleaded guilty to one count of filing false or misleading export information.
CBP erred when it assessed antidumping and countervailing duties on imported sinks and kits from Taiwan as if they had originated from China, importer and seller RH Peterson said in a Nov. 29 complaint at the Court of International Trade (RH Peterson Co. v. United States, CIT # 20-00099).
The Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Nov. 29 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):
Plaintiffs in a conflict-of-interest suit, led by Amsted Rail Co., plan to appeal the Court of International Trade's judgment dismissing the case for lack of jurisdiction regardless of the outcome of their injunction motion, the plaintiffs said in a Nov. 30 response to a court order. However, ARC said that it is "mindful" that developments in the present case against the International Trade Commission and its related action against the Commerce Department "may bear on whether an appeal should be voluntarily dismissed before or after the appeal is docketed" (Amsted Rail Co. v. United States International Trade Commission, CIT #22-00307).
Returned and remanufactured engine parts should be appraised under the fallback method using the sales price of the remanufactured good, with a deduction for the average cost of repair, CBP said in a ruling dated Sept. 29 and released recently.
DOJ unsealed a 15-count indictment Nov. 29 charging Madison County, Alabama, resident Ray Hunt with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran, defrauding the U.S., smuggling goods from the U.S., and submitting false export information, the department announced. Hunt faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, up to five years for the count of conspiracy, 10 for the smuggling charge and another five for the false information charge.