CBP: Liquidation of Duties Destroyed on 9/11

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a Notice stating that its practice is to suspend the liquidation of entries of merchandise subject to antidumping and/or countervailing duties (AD/CVD) until liquidation instructions are received from the Department of Commerce. Due to the extended cycle of AD/CVD entries. CBP is only now beginning to receive liquidation instructions from the Department of Commerce for many AD/CVD entries from previous years. Unfortunately, many AD/CVD entry documents were maintained by CBP at 6 World Trade Center in New York and were destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. CBP will allow importers 30 days to provide a reconstructed entry summary package to CBP for liquidation of such entries, with the time period to commence upon publication by the Department of Commerce that suspension of the liquidation of subject entry has been lifted and that Commerce has issued final assessment instructions. If a reconstructed entry summary package has not been received from the importer within the 30-day period, CBP will begin liquidating the entries based on the information available in the Automated Commercial System (ACS). Note: Importers with unliquidated entries subject to AD/CVD from the period preceding September 11, 2001 may wish to start the reconstruction process now, rather than waiting until the hammer comes down. 70 Fed. Reg. 50390 (HK Law)