Boyle & Voss, P.A.
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
145 Paramount Plaza III
7831 Glenroy Road
Bloomington, Minnesota 55439
Voice: 952-837-1000
Fax: 952-837-0920
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DATE: |
October 9, 2006 |
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TO: |
Association Members and Official Representatives |
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FROM: |
Bob Boyle, Association Legal Counsel |
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RE: |
Anti-dumping and Countervailing Duties |
From the Department of Homeland Security - U. S. Customs and Border Protection.
Before you enter into an agreement to purchase goods overseas for importation into the United States (say for example IBM memory cards), know your supplier. If those goods, or any part thereof, are subject to an anti-dumping or countervailing duty order from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the amount of customs duties could be very great. The importer, which may or may not be you, is responsible for paying these duties. To make matters worse, Customs regulations do not allow the importer to be reimbursed by the foreign supplier once the anti-dumping or countervailing duties are paid. If the reimbursement is not disclosed and later discovered, both the amount reimbursed and a like amount will be due as a penalty and if you are the importer, you may get singled out for special treatment.
What are Anti-dumping and Countervailing duties?
Anti-dumpting duties (ADD)(19 U.S.C. 1654) are taxes assessed on imported goods that are sold in the United States at a price less than fair market value. Fair market value is determined as the price the product is normally sold at in the manufacturer's domestic market.
Countervailing duties (CVD)(19 U.S.C. 1654) are taxes assessed to counter the effects of subsidies provided by foreign governments to goods exported to the United States. Subsidies cause the price of such merchandise to become artificially low, which may cause economic "injury" to U.S. manufacturers.
Memory cards bearing Hynex chips have put the industry on the Customs Service list of who’s who to single out for inspection. Why, because Hynex chips come with a 56% Countervailing Duty.
Ignorance is no defense. If you thought the memory cards were coming with Samsung chips and upon inspection were manufactured with chips marked “Hy”, it’s your problem. What you thought or believed or your contract said is irrelevant. The solution is to know your source and make sure the goods are check before they enter the U. S.
Can I return the cards and say I’m sorry? No. Once the cards have arrived at the port of entry outside the protection of a Customs bonded warehouse they are “in the commerce of the United States” and the duty is owed.
What is the solution?
Prior Disclosure. If you know or suspect that an inbound shipment of goods contains components some or all of which ar the subject of an Anti-dumping or Countervailing Duty Order, you should immediately submit what is known as a Prior Disclosure pursuant to 19 U.S.C. 1592 prior to discovery by Customs to avoid or reduce penalties for negiligence, gross negligence or fraud for lack of disclosure penalties can be as much as the duty in the first instance.
References. Please refer to the Customs and Border Protection website (http://www.cbp.gov) for guidance and information on further information this and other topics of concern to the secondary market.
OTHER NOTES ON HYNX:
HYNIX “DUMPING” PROBLEM
Summer, 2003
U.S. Commerce Dep’t. imposed a 44.7% import duty, claiming the Korean government had been giving illegal subsidies to Hynix, a DRAM chipmaker.
Hynix appealed to the World Trade
Organization (WTO)
Fall, 2004
WTO agreed with Hynix, although the WTO allowed lower import duties because it found that U.S. manufacturers had been harmed by lower-priced DRAM chips.
U.S. appealed to the WTO Appellate Body
Spring, 2005
WTO Appellate Body agreed with the U.S. and allowed the 44% duty to remain in place
The website below is a starting point for keeping informed about IMPORT duties on products coming into the U.S.
http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/bychapter/index.htm
The following website can be used for EXPORT information: