Most of you, as our customers and trade contacts, have come to see and know that Comstock & Theakston and C.J. Holt lead the way for our customers in every way possible when it comes to anything drawback related. We pride ourselves on the work that we do and the way in which we interact with Customs & Border Protection (CBP) to keep drawback moving forward the way it was intended.
In our recent communication from February (TFTEA Drawback and Accelerated Payment), we outlined the fact that Accelerated Payment would be withheld for all Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA) Drawback claims and there has not been a change since that time. Due to this inaction, C.J. Holt and a small group of trade members have filed a lawsuit against CBP, stating that we believe CBP is not aligning themselves properly with the Administrative Procedures Act by withholding Accelerated Payment for TFTEA claims. While this may seem like an extreme action, it is one that is necessary at this time. We hope that this matter can be clarified in quick order and that TFTEA drawback regulations will be forthcoming. We will be sure to send an alert once we have an update on this situation.
In other recent news, President Trump has released Presidential Proclamation 9704 Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States and 9705 Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, along with a Presidential Memorandum Related to the Section 301 Investigation related to China’s laws, policies, intellectual property rights and trade practices. In these recent releases, additional duties have been added for steel and aluminum and will be added for Chinese products under Section 301 after a comment period closes and a public hearing is held in May. Our understanding at this time is that these additional duties will be available to be claimed for drawback when finished articles are exported that incorporate these commodities or tariff codes. We will be in discussion with CBP about how the process will work, and specifically for TFTEA drawback substitution claims, as the HTS numbers will be available at importation for these new tariffs, but will not be the HTS numbers that would be used upon exportation. There is still much to learn on this process and we will know more after the next few weeks.
Please continue to monitor our website for additional information on these topics and to keep your eyes open for upcoming educational events in 2018!
