Who Moved My CAFTA-DR Cheese?

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.

Ruling of the Week 2017.1: Geeks Will Eat Anything

It is a new year and a lot has changed in the world. People in my field are either excited about the possibilities of major changes in trade policy or are horrified by the possibilities of major changes in trade policy.

I have had several calls about whether the U.S. will withdraw from NAFTA, impose new duties on goods made in Mexico by U.S.-based companies, and raise tariffs on goods from China. My answer so far has been, "I wish I knew." The new President and the new Congress will have a lot of authority under domestic law. The bigger questions will relate to how our trading partners respond. The U.S. has agreed many times to hold or lower duties. Going back on those promises will mean violating WTO obligations and multiple free trade agreements. Some people may not care. The U.S. remains fully sovereign and can violate any international agreements it choses. As a former partner used to say, "The WTO has no army."

But, the WTO has the ability to authorize trade retaliation. That means our trading partners will likely raise tariffs on U.S. goods in retaliation for stiffer U.S. tariffs. That makes it harder for U.S. companies to export. Add to that the impact of U.S. tariffs making it harder to import. We could end up with a situation in which domestic producers face higher costs for imported raw materials and components and then can't export their finished goods. That is a bad scenario.

Despite those two paragraphs, I tend to be an optimistic person by nature. I don't really expect the professionals who will be running White House trade policy and Congress to brazenly flout trade agreements and obligations. I don't think anyone wants to start an old fashioned trade war. But, as I said, I can't see the future. It's possible.  We all need to be watching closely. No matter your business needs and policy desires, this is a good time to make sure you have your Senators and Representative on speed dial.

Happy New Year. 2017 will be interesting.

Which brings me to the ruling of the week, N126516 (Oct. 19, 2010), in which we learn that human beings will eat just about anything. In this case, we are talking about snacking on arthropods.

Item 1: Giant toasted leafcutter ants.

Via Wikipedia

Item 2: Oven-baked tarantula spiders.

Also Via Wikipedia

According to the importer, the ants are "grown specially for human consumption" and have a "nutty, bacon-like taste." The spiders, on the other hand are "crisp, crunchy, ready-to-eat snacks." The importer also requested a ruling on scorpions that have been farm raised, detoxified, and are uncooked. For whatever reason, CBP decided it was lacking the necessary information to rule on that tasty snack.

The actual classification of the ants and spiders did not seem to controversial. These are food items prepared and packaged for human consumption. There not being a more specific place these delicacies, CBP classified them as "other prepared or preserved meat, meat offal, or blood." When canned, the classification would be 1602.90.9080; un-canned it is 1602.90.9080.

The importer here is a company called Think Geek Inc. I believe this is its website. Let me just say that this is right in my wheelhouse. I would like one of these and this and this (XL) and even this. Take all my money. I might even trade tariff classifications for gift cards. What I don't want is to eat tarantulas. And, yes, I am fully aware that arthropods provide a valuable source of protein and calories. The fact of the matter is that I get too many calories as it is. Unlike Chicago-mix popcorn and frozen yogurt, I can pass up the spiders and ants.

GSP Renewal Update

This may be my shortest post ever. Want your GSP refunds? The information you seek is here and here.

Ruling of the Week 2015.11: German Pizza, Chicago Pride

This one is pretty straight forward. The only reason I am covering it is that the notion of importing completely prepared pizza from Germany is oddly funny to me. Kind of like getting tacos from Australia.

In N261593 (Mar. 11, 2015), U.S. Customs and Border Protection answered a ruling request from Freiberger U.S.A., Inc. asking for the tariff classification of a completely prepared and frozen pizza to be imported from Germany. Four varieties were involved including: flatbread with cream sauce and eleven-inch square.

The correct tariff classification is in Heading 1905 which is the heading for:

Bread, pastry, cakes, biscuits and other bakers' wares, whether or not containing cocoa; communion wafers, empty capsules of a kind suitable for pharmaceutical use, sealing wafers, rice paper and similar products . . . .

I come from Chicago where we like our pizza thick, the way God intended it. Consequently, it makes sense to me that pizza would be treated as a bread product. Specifically, Customs classified the pizza in 1905.90.90. This is the "other, other" provision in the heading. The statistical suffix at 1905.90.9060 specifically calls out "Pizza and quiche" (not that the statistical suffix means much legally). The applicable rate of duty is 4.5%

From The Pizza Fan (thepizzafan.com)

This should not be (but probably is) true for the wood-fired, crispy-crust, hipster pizza you might find, say, in Brooklyn. It seems to me that would be, at best, a "crispbread" of 1905.10.0000. Just sayin', Brooklyn. I note there are no breakouts under crispbreads. I have, therefore, just legally proven that hipster pizza is, from a legal perspective, not pizza at all. You're welcome, Chicago.

Of course, the practical economic problem is that crispbreads are duty-free. We here in Chicago do not want Brooklyn to have an economic advantage in the imported pizza market. I think we need to petition the President (who is an adopted Chicagoan) to reduce the duty on imported pizza to Free to give Chicago parity with Brooklyn.

Here's another thing I am worried about: do they make a good pizza in Germany? Is this a product we really want in the U.S.? I realize that the tariff item covers more than just pizza. It also covers quiche, corn chips, and other savory snacks. But, for the entire category, Germany was the number seven source of these products. It fell just behind South Korea and just ahead of Israel, neither of which is a pizza dynamo. The number one source of pizza and similar products imported to the U.S. in 2014 was Mexico with the number two slot going to Canada. See, NAFTA works.

Italy, by the way, was number three.