On December 2, 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) issued CSMS #50264295 providing guidance on requests for liquidation extensions and protest processing related to pending litigation in the Court of International Trade (CIT) challenging the lawfulness of Section 301 List 3 and/or List 4a duties on goods from China.
Regarding requests for liquidation extensions, CBP noted that it will “deny requests filed under 19 U.S.C. § 1504(b)(2) for an extension of time for liquidation of entries based solely on the pending CIT litigation.” As noted under 19 U.S.C. § 1504(b)(2), the Secretary of the Treasury may extend the liquidation period of an entry if “the importer of record or drawback claimant, as the case may be, requests such extension and shows good cause therefor.” As determined by CBP, the pending litigation in the CIT regarding the Section 301 duties, as well as any other case stayed under this lead case, will not be considered sufficient enough to show good cause for extension.
CBP also provided additional guidance with regards to protest processing. The agency noted that, in an effort to facilitate administrative processing, it would designate these specific protests in “Suspended” status under the “Other” category. This is due to the fact that the agency will not be acting on these protests at the time. Notably, CBP stated that protests listed under the “Other” category are not acknowledged as valid and the decision to categorize them as such is “merely an administrative convenience for CBP.” The guidance issued under CSMS #50264295 does not pertain to any entries filed under List 1 (noted by subheading 9903.88.01), List 2 (noted by subheading 9903.88.02), submissions regarding exclusions requests submitted to the U.S. Trade Representative, and/or any submissions not contesting the lawfulness and validity of List 3 and/or List 4a Section 301 duties.
The CBP guidance can be found here.
For more information on CBP and Section 301 tariffs, contact our team and see previous posts below.