Who Moved My CAFTA-DR Cheese?

Etiketler : CAFTA Court Decision Customs Law Free Trade
La Nica Products is an odd case. It involves a claim for preferential duty treatment under the US-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA-DR. The merchandise is cheese from Nicaragua. On its face, one would think that an agricultural product like cheese would satisfy most rules of origin. But, that is not the issue in this case.

The problem here is the identity of the party making the claim. La Nica was listed as the importer of record and made the claim for duty-free treatment. After entry, La Nica, who had been listed as the importer of record, filed a Post-Entry Amendment ("PEA") attempting to change the importer of record to another party. Apparently, the other party purchased the cheese while it was en route. Customs and Border Protection asked La Nica for proof of the sale to the new alleged IOR and for a certificate of origin to support the CAFTA-DR claim. Plaintiff did not respond.

Customs denied the the PEA request and liquidated the entries as dutiable, thereby denying the CAFTA-DR claims as well. Plaintiff protested, and CBP denied the protests.

Under 19 CFR § 10.583(a), an importer may make a claim for preferential treatment under CAFTA-DR. The same regulation notes that a claim may be based on a certificate of origin from the importer, exporter, or producer. CAFTA-DR claims are, of course, subject to verification and can be denied if the Port Director determines that the importer has provided insufficient evidence to verify the origin of the merchandise.

What went wrong here? While the La Nica made the CAFTA-DR claim, it also told CBP that it was not the importer. Having sold the goods in transit, it appears that La Nica was no longer the owner of the goods at the time of entry and, therefore, was not the proper importer of record. Because the CAFTA-DR regulations require the the claim be made by the importer, La Nica is out of luck.

A couple things to remember about this. First, La Nica apparently never asserted that even though it sold the merchandise, it retained the right to make entry. If it retained a verifiable financial interest in the goods, it might have satisfied CBP's liberal interpretation of "owner" for purposes of making entry. That is not addressed in the decision.

The confounding issue here is that someone needs to be the IOR. Customs denied the PEA on the grounds that La Nica failed to prove the in-transit sale. That would seem to indicate a finding by CBP that La Nica still owned the merchandise and, therefore, was a proper importer. Alas, the CIT did not agree. Plaintiff has the burden of proof. In Court, La Nica continued to assert that it had made a successful sale of the cheese. Thus, the evidence before the Court indicated that La Nica was not the owner, which resulted in it being the wrong party to make the CAFTA-DR claim.

That is an example of free-trade whiplash.