Monthly Archives: February 2019

OFAC reaches settlement with Kollmorgen over Iran sanctions violations.

February 7, 2019 By in Iran, Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a comment
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According to a press release from the U.S. Department of the Treasury:

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today announced a $13,381 settlement with Kollmorgen Corporation (“Kollmorgen”) of Radford, Virginia. Kollmorgen has agreed to settle potential civil liability on behalf of its Turkish affiliate Elsim Elektroteknik Sistemler Sanayi ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi (“Elsim”) for six apparent violations of Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations, 31 C.F.R. part 560 (ITSR). The apparent violations involved Elsim dispatching employees to Iran to service machines and providing other services to Iran in violation of ITSR § 560.215. OFAC determined that Kollmorgen voluntarily self-disclosed the apparent violations on behalf of Elsim and that the apparent violations constitute a non-egregious case.

If you have any questions about the Iran sanctions, want to update your OFAC compliance program or have concerns that your company or any affiliate is violating OFAC sanctions on Iran, call David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

Investigation on Certain Fabricated Structural Steel from Canada, Mexico, and China.

February 5, 2019 By in structural steel, Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a comment
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Yesterday, the American Institute of Steel Construction, LLC (AISC) filed a petition to assess antidumping and countervailing (AD/CVD) duties on imports of certain fabricated structural steel from Canada, Mexico and China.

The scope covers:

The merchandise covered by this investigation includes carbon and alloy (including stainless) steel products such as angles, columns, beams, girders, plates, flange shapes (including manufactured structural shapes utilizing welded plates as a substitute for rolled wide flange sections), channels, hollow structural section (HSS) shapes, base plates, plate-work components, and other steel products that have been fabricated for assembly or installation into a structure (fabricated structural steel). Fabrication includes, but is not limited to, cutting, drilling, welding, joining, bolting, bending, punching, pressure fitting, molding, adhesion, and other processes.

Fabricated structural steel products include products in which iron predominates and the carbon content is two percent or less by weight. Most notably, the investigation and potential duty orders will apply to fabricated structural steel.

The products subject to the investigation are currently classified in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) under subheadings: 7308.90.9590, 7308.90.3000, and 7308.90.6000.
The products subject to the investigation may also enter under the following HTSUS subheadings: 7216.91.0010, 7216.91.0090, 7216.99.0010, 7216.99.0090, 7228.70.6000, 7301.10.0000, 7301.20.1000, 7301.20.5000, 7308.40.0000, 7308.90.9530, and 9406.90.0030.

If you have any questions how the investigation and potential antidumping or countervailing duties will impact your business, call experienced trade and customs attorney David Hsu at attorney.dave@yahoo.com or call/text: 832-896-6288.

 

 

 

CBP Seizes $129k in counterfeit goods.

February 4, 2019 By in U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , Leave a comment
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Screenshot of seized goods. Source: CBP.gov

According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) media release, CBP officers seized $129,000 worth of counterfeit consumer goods. The seizure occurred at Dulles International Airport in late December when someone picked up a shipment described as “shoes bags scars”.

CBP officers examined the shipment and found 90 items of designer brand name shoes, bags, purses, belts and scarves. The officers suspected the shipments to be counterfeit and detained the merchandise.

Typically – CBP will send photos to the trademark holder to verify authenticity.  And as expected, most (all) trademark holders will determine the items to be counterfeit.

If you have had a counterfeit seizure, currency seizure or other detention/seizure by Customs, contact experienced trade and seizure attorney, David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

ISPM 15 violation? Call now.

February 4, 2019 By in EAN, ISPM-15, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Uncategorized, wooden packaging materials, WPM Tags: , , , Leave a comment
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is increasing enforcement against wood packaging material (WPM) violations.

In short, WPM violations occur when CBP finds wood-boring pets in packaging material. If wood-boring pests or other invasive species are found, CBP will issue an “Emergency Action Notice” for violations of the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPM-15).

The EAN will request re-export, however, we can help – call experienced WPM violation and wood-boring pest attorney, David Hsu immediately. We can help you, call anytime, 832-896-6288 or email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

WPM violation cases are time sensitive, call now!

3 European countries create “Instex” to avoid US sanctions against Iran.

February 2, 2019 By in Instex, Iran, Uncategorized Tags: , , , Leave a comment
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As you are aware, after taking office, President Trump pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by then-President Obama. Negating the deal also resulted in the imposition of banking sanctions Iran.

In order to continue doing business with Iran, European leaders from Britain, France and Germany created a new company called the “Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges” or Instex for short.

The Instex corporation was registered in France as a “special-purpose vehicle” on Thursday and will be run by a German banker.

As expected, the State Department issued a statement saying “entities that continue to engage in sanctionable activity involving Iran risk severe consequences that could include losing access to the U.S. financial system and the ability to do business with the United States or U.S. companies”.

It will be interesting to see whether any companies take this risk and will post any Instex as it becomes available.

If you have any questions about the Iran sanctions or want to ensure your company is in compliance with export controls, contact experienced trade attorney David Hsu at 832-896-6288 or by email at attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

US Trade Commission reverses decision, finds the US tire market IS being harmed by truck and bus imports from China.

February 2, 2019 By in International Trade Commission, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment
woman posing in front of tires

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Summary of what happened:
On January 30th, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) reversed their earlier decision, finding the US tire market is being harmed by truck and bus imports from China. In short – bus and truck imports from China will now be subject to tariffs. A tariff rate and timeline for imposition of duties was not reported by the USITC.

The USITC released a 62-page determination in response to an order of the U.S. Court of International Trade. Back in November 2018, the USITC remanded the ITC’s decision therefore requiring the ITC to re-evaluate their case.

What caused the reversal?
The five-members of the ITC had changed membership in 2017 when commissioner Scott Kieff left 3 years before the end of his term. President Trump later nominated and the Senate confirmed former President Barack Obama’s nominee to fill the commission – Jason Kearnes.

Jason Kearnes turned out to be the swing vote in the most recent reversal of the ITC decision on bus and truck tires.

Very brief history:
In January 2016, the US Steelworkers filed a complaint that tire imports from China was hurting US industry. After investigating, the ITC voted in February 2017 to NOT impose tariffs. This was a surprise because every other tire investigation led to imposition of duties.The US Steelworkers then appealed the decision to the Court of International Trade and in November 2018, the USITC was forced to re-evaluate their decision. Ultimately in their re-evaluation, the ITC found: “In sum, we find that the significant volume of subject imports, at prices that undersold the domestic like product and depressed domestic prices, adversely impacted the domestic industry. We consequently determine that the domestic industry is materially injured by reason of subject imports.”

Please contact our offices if you have questions on how the most recent ITC decision will effect your company’s imports of bus and truck tries from China. You can call David Hsu at 832-896-6288 at anytime or email attorney.dave@yahoo.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trump maintains hardline on China trade.

February 1, 2019 By in Uncategorized Leave a comment
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According to the Japan Times, the Trump administration has not softened their positions on requiring Beijing to make structural reforms to the way companies do business in China – specifically on issues of intellectual property and requiring American companies to share technology with Chinese joint venture partners when doing business in China.

On the other hand, China denies any theft of intellectual property and the accusation Chinese joint ventures steal technology from their American counterparts.

In about a month, the deadline of the trade truce ends and if no deal is reached, tariffs of 25% will be applied to $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. As the meetings are occurring in Washington, both sides seem far apart on reaching a consensus.

Check back for more updates on this week’s US/China trade talks.