TRADE ALERT

CAFTA – Retroactive Refunds

(January 8, 2007)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice (TBT 06-027) extending the deadline for filing claims for retroactive Duty Refund benefits for certain textile and apparel goods under DR-CAFTA.

The DR-CAFTA FTA involves the countries of Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Neither Costa Rica nor the Dominican Republic have yet implemented the agreement; the DR is expected to soon but it remains uncertain when Costa Rica will.

CBP is in the process of issuing a Federal Register notice to extend the time period for filing retroactive CAFTA-DR claims.  Until that is published, this administrative notice is being issued to allow the extension of retroactive claims, under Section 205 of the Act, to be filed with CBP up until 90 days after the last country enters into the Agreement for that country or any other CAFTA-DR country. 

Textile and apparel goods will qualify for retroactive Duty Free treatment provided that they would have qualified as an originating good from one of the eligible CAFTA-DR countries under the tariff shift rules in General Note 29 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. The Notice defines the Textile and Apparel Articles covered.  

CBP shall liquidate or reliquidate qualifying articles as duty free and refund any excess duties paid with interest.

For additional information please refer to the following Website: http://www.strtrade.com/wti/2007/january/05/cbp_retroactive_claims_memo.doc

Deringer's consulting & regulatory affairs group offers a full scope of services to support importers/exporters, carriers, and supply chain partners, and can assist importers in obtaining rulings and researching how these modifications may affect them.

For more information regarding this advisory, please call 518-297-3511, or email us at consulting@anderinger.com