U.S. company’s GSP duty-free claim and protest denied, not timely filed
U.S. company’s GSP duty-free claim and protest denied
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today affirmed the judgment of the U.S. trade court that it lacked jurisdiction to consider a company’s claim that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had improperly denied its protest concerning duty-free treatment for its entries of organic chemicals from India under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) during a period when the GSP regime had lapsed.
The case is: Industrial Chemicals, Inc. v. United States, No. 2019-1176 (Fed. Cir. November 8, 2019). Read the Federal Circuit decision [PDF 110 KB]
Summary
The company made 65 entries of organic chemicals from India between August 2013 and October 2014, during a period that the GSP had lapsed. The entries were liquidated between June 2014 and September 2015.
The company asserted that if the GSP had been in force, its entries would have been GSP-eligible. The company, however, did not, however, submit its request for retroactive GSP treatment until February 2016—more than a month after the deadline of December 28, 2015.
CBP denied the GSP request because it was received after December 28, 2015, and later denied a protest because it was not filed within 180 days after the date of liquidation. The company filed a complaint with the U.S. Court of International Trade alleging CBP had improperly denied its protest. The trade court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The Federal Circuit today affirmed.
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