The Commerce Department published notices in the Federal Register April 11 on the following AD/CV duty proceedings (any notices that announce changes to AD/CV duty rates, scope, affected firms or effective dates will be detailed in another ITT article):
Customs Duty
A Customs Duty is a tariff or tax which a country imposes on goods when they are transported across international borders. Customs Duties are used to protect countries' economies, residents, jobs, and environments, by limiting the flow of imported merchandise, especially restricted and prohibited goods, into the country. The Customs Duty Rate is a percentage determined by the value of the article purchased in the foreign country and not based on quality, size, or weight.
A bill that directs the Biden administration to promulgate rules within 18 months to require data submissions for de minimis importers was introduced April 9 by Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., called the Ensure Accountability in De Minimis Act.
New antidumping duties take effect retroactive to July 7, 2023, for importers of more hydrofluorocarbon blends from China, the Commerce Department said in its preliminary determination in an anti-circumvention inquiry.
A domestic producer coalition seeks the imposition of new antidumping duties and countervailing duties on epoxy resin from China, India, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as antidumping duties on epoxy resin from Thailand, it said in petitions filed with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission last week. Commerce will now decide whether to begin AD/CVD investigations, which could result in the imposition of permanent AD/CVD orders and the assessment of AD and CVD on importers.
Headphone or speaker retail display shelves imported by Fasteners for Retail aren't covered by an antidumping and countervailing duty orders on prepackaged boltless steel shelving units from China, the Commerce Department said in a March 29 scope ruling. Among other things, the display shelves aren't shelving units -- they are only decks, or parts of shelves, it said.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 8 dismissed importer Rimco's challenge of antidumping and countervailing duties on its steel wheel entries, for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
CBP properly assessed antidumping duties on an entry of quartz surface products from China, the agency said, rejecting a protest from a U.S. importer that argued its products entered the port before a U.S. antidumping duty order took effect. CBP, in a ruling dated Jan. 25, said even though the products reached the initial port in Los Angeles before the order, they didn’t reach their final port of entry in Dallas until later, which made them subject to the AD order.
DHS announced that more companies in what it called "the high-priority textile sector" should be added to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act's Entity List, joining the 10 already on that list -- just one item in what it's calling "a new comprehensive enforcement action plan" for textiles.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 4 sustained the Commerce Department's decision that Australian exporter BlueScope Steel (AIS) didn't reimburse its affiliated U.S. importer, BlueScope Steel Americas, for antidumping duties. Judges Kimberly Moore, Todd Hughes and Leonard Stark echoed the Court of International Trade in finding that it would have been "unreasonable" for the exporter to include the AD in the price charged to the importer because the "exporter itself was not responsible for those duties."
CBP released the quarterly IRS interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts (underpayments) and refunds (overpayments) of customs duties. For the quarter that began April 1, the interest rate for overpayments is 7% for corporations and 8% for non-corporations. The rate for underpayments is 8% for both corporations and non-corporations. That's unchanged from the previous quarter.