As the subject line suggests, there has been a recent (March 23, 2022) development out of the office of the US Trade Representative that offers some hope to companies that had previously been subject to exclusions to the Sec. 301 duties against China.
In fact, of the 549 previously granted exclusions, 352 of these are being reauthorized. This relief is retroactive to October 12, 2021, and will last through the end of 2022. You can read the entire notice in the Federal Register, and the link to this can be found HERE. If you believe you may qualify for one of these exclusions, please advise your Import Coordinator at Averitt, so we can investigate your specific situation in detail.
We are still waiting for specific guidance from Customs as to how to process, construct, and file these refund requests, but we anticipate something will be sent out by early April.
If you believe your shipments are eligible for refund, Averitt is able to process these requests for you. While we make no guarantees as to how Customs will respond, the process is pretty straightforward, and the refunds should happen relatively quickly unless Customs finds some reason to question the applicability of these extended exclusions to your product or entry.
The charge for this service will vary based on a few factors, but will generally run between $75 and $125 per entry.
This is not the first time Customs has announced something like this. The last time, literally tens of thousands of requests were submitted to Customs. We expect something similar or greater this time.
Please let your Import Coordinator know if you have any questions about your particular situation. You can also contact our International team for assistance at international@averitt.com. We stand ready to assist!
