Administrative Law

First Sale: Alive For Now

Posted on June 26, 2008
In an appearance before the Senate Finance Committee on June 24, Commissioner Basham stated that CBP would not proceed with its proposed reinterpretation of the value law to eliminate so-called first sale valuation. So, that's good. Whether CBP tries to do this again in 2011 is another and open question...

Blog Roll

Posted on June 26, 2008
I've updated my blog roll to eliminate some dead links and add a few new ones (primarily in the cycling section). If you have any nominations for others to add, please drop a comment below.

Laptop Searches Catch the Attention of Senators

Posted on June 25, 2008
Interesting article from PC World.Senators Question Border Laptop SearchesA good portion of the article seems to have more to do with accusations of racial profiling and interrogations than searching digital devices.

Let's Go Down to the Warsaw . . .

Posted on June 25, 2008
so we can watch this excellent Drew Carey video from Reason.TV.Maybe Drew Carey will be replacing Ben Stein as America's witty smart person. I've seen Drew as a contestant on game shows; he seems pretty smart. Ben Stein has lost all sorts of credibility with me now that he is a pitchman for the movement to protect the alleged academic freedom to teach intelligent design as science.

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Contemplating Cycling Accidents

Posted on June 24, 2008
I've been able to ride to work a few time recently. That's been good; although, I am reminded that I have not yet had time to tune up the bike. It sounds and feels a little dry. My legs and lungs also require a tune up, but there is little I can do on that front...

Filler

Posted on June 19, 2008
I have a bunch of substance to post. I have a couple comments on the UPS and Pomeroy decisions from the CIT and need to talk about the Optrex decision in some detail.But, I can't do it now.In the meantime, I give you these two items.First: Scooting Across the Border...

Court Decisions

Posted on June 19, 2008
In reverse chronological order:Auto Alliance: Discovery disputes are pretty rare in the Court of International Trade. This one seem like it was a doosey. Who hasn't wanted to depose opposing counsel? Turns out that it is hard to justify.Optrex: Speaking of discovery disputes, this case also involved a contested privilege question...

Happy Belated Smoot-Hawley Day

Posted on June 18, 2008
I tried to do a mobile post of this yesterday, June 17th, the first annual Smoot-Hawley Day celebration.Enjoy the holiday. Now is a time to gather with your colleagues and be nostalgic about 25% rates of duty. If anyone in your office raises the question of whether the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act might have contributed to plunging the world into a global depression, tell them that the Tariff Fairy will not put a new HTSUS under the tariff bush this year...

EFF to be Amicus in Laptop Search Case

Posted on June 13, 2008
This news item from Slashdot says that the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives are filing an amicus brief in an effort to have the full 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rehear and reverse the three-judge decision in Arnold upholding the border search of a laptop computer...

Export News

Posted on June 11, 2008
It's not exactly CROSS, but the Bureau of Industry and Security has finally produced an online database of guidance on exports subject to the Export Administration Regulation. Here's a link:U. S. Bureau of Industry and Security - Policies and RegulationsPlus, while I am thinking about exports, a helpful e-mailer reminded me that I have failed to cover the long-anticipated actual implementation of mandatory electronic filing of export documents via the Automated Export System (or AESDirect)...

Honey Laundering

Posted on June 09, 2008
Here is a link to an interesting story from the Chicago Tribune. The article is about criminal cases pending here involving the transshipment of honey to avoid antidumping duties on honey from China. It's not very common for these things to break into the local media, but this story involves criminality, a hint of international intrigue, and just a bit of danger in the form of honey tainted by banned antibiotics...

On and Off Topic Nonesense

Posted on June 04, 2008
I have a small sailboat in Lake Michigan. It's just big enough to let me and my crew of two harbor hop up to Milwaukee or down to Chicago in fairly uncomfortable conditions. In my impractical dreams, I have a much larger boat and my harbor hopping shifts to the Caribbean...

First Sale, the Farm Bill, and Bad Parenting

Posted on May 28, 2008
This is for Paul, who by posting a comment here, prompted me out of my blog stupor. I was planning a satirical rant about how I have this awful day job that gets in they way of my blogging. I was going to explain my goal to emulate now-professional bloggers like Heather Armstrong (AKA Dooce) or parlay my blogging success into a book deal like Jessica Hagy (of Indexed) and, more important, a shot on the Today Show...

A Holiday Just for Us

Posted on May 21, 2008
Yesterday was the anniversary of the passage of the Tariff Act of 1828, commonly known as the Tariff of Abominations.I suggest that May 19 be declared a minor holiday for customs lawyers in America.The Tariff of Abominations resulted from one of those great legislative follies in which a bill is put before Congress on the theory that no one will support it and then political hay can be made by blaming the defeat of the bill on political opponents...

Customs News of the Weird

Posted on May 16, 2008
It's Beetlemania in Pennsylvania! Customs and Border Protection sting nabs illegal beetle imports. Read about it here.Actually, there was no sting involved; I just could not resist the pun.

Deal or No Deal: GSP Edition

Posted on May 16, 2008
Before I get into this, I need to make an important point (that I have made before): I like and respect most of the the folks at Customs and those at the Department of Justice who represent the agency. Over the three years I have been blogging, I have reviewed cases that I think Customs and Border Protection should have won and I have given a virtual high-five to Customs for the good and important work it does...

In Rem Action: U.S. v. Flash Drives

Posted on May 13, 2008
In law, there are two kinds of civil actions. The usual case is brought "in personam," meaning it is against a person. This is the usual So-and-So v. So-and-So kind of case in which the plaintiff claims the defendant did something wrong. Other actions are "in rem," meaning against the thing...

We're All Grown Ups Here, Right?

Posted on May 01, 2008
I like to hang out at the intersection of trade and intellectual property. I find the issues raised there to be particularly interesting.One long-simmering issue is the question of protecting geographically descriptive designations for products. Champagne, the French argue, must come from Champagne (France); not Italy or California and not even Champaign, Illinois...

Fiji on First Sale

Posted on May 01, 2008
A quick update on Customs and Border Protection's effort to eliminate "first sale," sometimes called middleman," valuation:Earlier in the week, 17 U.S. Senators sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff expressing "serious concern" over the move...

Recent Decisions

Posted on April 29, 2008
The courts have been busy. Here are some recent decisions of note:U.S. v. Arnold. This decision comes from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and involves a border search of Mr. Arnold's laptop. This is an issue we have covered previously (here and here) and seems to be of growing concern to the general public...

Ground Breaking for the NAFTA Super Highway?

Posted on April 24, 2008
This New York Times article includes a photo pf President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Harper, and Mexican President Calderon lifting shovels of dirt. In reality, they are planting a tree in New Orleans, site of what is likely their last summit as a group before the end of the Bush administration...

Penalties: A New Priority

Posted on April 24, 2008
Recently, Customs and Border Protection officially designated penalties as a Priority Trade Issue.I am putting this in the same category as the attempt to gut first sale valuation, the restrictive reading of lease-like arrangements in 9801, and the decision to bring the Ford recordkeeping case...

The Pen Is Stronger

Posted on April 15, 2008
I found this Customs and Border Protection ruling to be interesting in a let's-keep-the-basic-in-mind kind of way. It involves the country of origin marking on pens. The pens were marked in raised letters on the barrel but the marking was in the same color as the pen...

NAFTA Drawback is STILL Constitutional

Posted on April 07, 2008
A while back, this issue generated a lot of good comments. Thanks to the Federal Circuit, we can start that again. In NuFarm America's, Inc. v. United States, the Court of International Trade held that the requirement that importers pay customs duties within 60 days of the export of goods to a NAFTA country that previously entered the U...

President Forces Vote on Colombia FTA

Posted on April 07, 2008
President Bush has transmitted the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress. Under the requirements of the fast track process, this move forces Congress to vote on the deal within 90 days. Unlike most legislation, Congress cannot amend the bill; instead, this is an up or down vote to approve or reject the pact...

Does CBP Have A PR Problem?

Posted on March 31, 2008
Dateline Mar. 30, 2008, Chicago Today, the above cartoon by Dan Piraro appeared in Parade Magazine, which is shoved into the Chicago Tribune in the company of the Best Buy and Circuit City ad supplements. For reasons that escape me and likely make Parade execs very happy, I always leaf through it but rarely read anything in it...

U.S. and E.C. Joint Roadmap on Security

Posted on March 28, 2008
This press release from Customs and Border Protection states that CBP and the European Commission's Tax and Customs Union Directorate have adopted a joint "roadmap" to mutual recognition of trade partnership programs. The ultimate goal is to establish mutual recognition of the U...

Supreme Court Considers Customs Declarations

Posted on March 27, 2008
It is pretty rare for customs-related issues to come before the Supreme Court. The last cases to do so dealt with fundamental questions of administrative law and the degree to which the Courts had to defer to Customs' legal interpretations. Those cases were Haggar in 2000 and Meade in 2001...

Is Mickey Raising a Stink?

Posted on March 22, 2008
I saw this story earlier in the week and decided against posting it. But, it keeps showing up so I may as well jump on the band wagon.Orlando stinks.According to Customs and Border Protection, the Orlando airport stinks from dead rats. Apparently, this is not an "Oh, yuck" kind of stink...

From the Blogosphere

Posted on March 21, 2008
A few worthy posts from other blogs:An ode to smuggled absinthe from The Obscurarium. I would not take the comment that Customs and Border Protection does not enforce the ban on absinthe as legal advice.This self-described Minnesota Diva is shocked by CBP border searches of laptops...

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