U.S. Affirms Quartz-Surface Tariff Evasion
WASHINGTON – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) affirmed the evasion of unfair-trade tariffs on Chinese quartz surfaces in two separate cases late this year.
The CBP declared on Nov. 25 that 15 companies brought quartz surfaces into the United States from China via Malaysia.
And, on Dec. 6, CBP determined that Vivaldi Commercial LLC sought to bypass the Chinese quartz-surface tariffs in its importing of surfaces that substitute fine-grained glass powder for quartz sand during manufacturing.
Both cases resulted from complaints filed by U.S. manufacturer Cambria Company LLC as part of the federal Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA).
In an October 2020 submission to CBP, Cambria alleged that some of the companies imported quartz surfaces from China but claimed the material’s origin as Malaysia in a process known as transhipping. Some importers also misclassified quartz-surfaces as other materials.
The CBP announced initial findings of evasion earlier this year and conducted a detailed investigation that turned up additional evidence.
“Customs should be commended for its incredible and painstaking efforts in digging into the facts of this evasion scheme to ensure that the U.S. importers that were involved are held accountable for their illegal activity,” said Luke Meisner of Schagrin Associates, Cambria’s legal counsel. “Customs’s enforcement action in this investigation targets an unprecedented large number of U.S. importers and should send a clear signal to the industry that evaders can and will be caught.”
“This illegal evasion of the antidumping and countervailing duties on quartz-surface products will not be tolerated,” said Arik Tendler, Cambria chief sales officer. “We appreciate Customs taking this enforcement action to ensure that Americans are able to compete on a fair and equal playing field.”
Cambria’s complaint on Vivaldi cited its surfaces using crushed-glass particles smaller than the required size for exclusion from the glass-for-quartz part of the Chinese material tariffs. CBP testing of material samples showed the fine glass being used with the materials, and further investigation showed the use of conflicting Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) designations for the materials.
In both cases, the CBP ordered that the final processing of customs procedures on all the materials in question be halted – the suspension of liquidation – until the U.S. Commerce Department determines the correct tariff amounts. Other actions against the importers is still undetermined.
The widening of the tariff to include the fine-glass-particle material is being challenged in a different case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
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