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Continuing my exploration of classic Customs and Border Protection rulings, we come to the confounding "General Notice" called Hasbro II. It was published at 27 Cust. B. & Dec. No. 6 (1993). Customs does not have Customs Bulletins online from that far back, so I put a copy here for you to read. The issue arises from a ruling request concerning an apparent royalty payment. Hasbro, as the importer/buyer of merchandise agreed to pay the seller 7% of the resale invoice price of the imported goods. Presumably, in addition to the original purchase price, the contract requires Hasbro to pay an addition amount to the seller equal to 7% of whatever price Hasbro gets for the goods on resale in the U.S. It seems fairly obvious that the 7% second payment, which is included in the purchase contract, is part of the total price paid or payable for the imported goods. That would tend to make it dutiable. But, the law requires specificity. If the payment is not " for the merchandise...

Henry Ford said it best, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got."  Bad habits need to be broken which means hard choices are often required to create health and happiness in our life.  What we think in our heads as the way things should be or how we want them to be doesn't magically happen because the thought is there.  Bad habits are ugly and keep us trapped in a life of emotional stress , depression, repeating unhealthy behaviors, and unable to move forward into the life we are supposed to live.  We are not loving ourselves when we are repeating bad habits.  In order to create good habits , ending the cycle of what you have always done will be the start of great things for you. Bad habit cycles can include turning to unhealthy ways of dealing with stress, enabling a loved one, or simply not accepting it is happening at all.  Turning to alcohol , drugs, smoking , binge eating or not eating are examples of unhealthy str...

Do you know what I hate? Change. Once I get comfortable with something, I am not a big fan of changing it up until something demonstrably better comes along. I drive my cars until I can't and I have gone to the same place to get my hair cut for 15 years. I have an 8 year old computer at home that is only now getting annoying enough to merit a trip to the recycling center. I also do not like it when Customs and Border Protection makes a change without an obvious and good reason. I get that if the Harmonized System Committee changes the law, Customs will implement the change. Also, I am completely in favor of the movement to ACE, which will provide demonstrable benefits to the trade. But other times, it seems to just be a matter of Customs rethinking the issue or never having been happy with the result the first time around. See, first sale valuation This comes up in the context of American Fiber & Finishing, Inc. v. United States , a recent decision of the Court of International...

Governments buy all kinds of unexpected stuff. Billiards tables, for example. In HQ H268491 (Oct. 15, 2015) , U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a final determination on the country of origin of certain billiards tables for purposes of government procurement under the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 . These rulings are not your run of the mill origin determination for purposes of labeling or duty determinations. Rather, an interested party may ask CBP for either an advisory or final decision on whether an article is a product of a designated country or instrumentality for purposes of securing a waiver of the "Buy American" rules for goods offered for sale to the U.S. Government. This ruling involves four billiards tables assembled in the United States from components from various countries. The components are shipped to the customer and the tables are assembled on-site. It is sufficient to understand that there are a lot of steps and a lot of parts. Also, the assembly req...

Brand: Baleno Company:  Maruti Suzuki Brand Analysis count:  # 560 Maruti Suzuki Ltd ( MSL) is in the process of  foraying into the premium hatchback ( B+) segment with the launch of Baleno. The announcement was surprising to me since the company which is struggling to break into the premium segment has chosen to name the product with a phased out brand! Interestingly, Baleno was MSL's foray into the premium sedan segment, 16 years ago. Baleno was first launched in 1999. Although the car was exceptional in terms of quality, MSL priced the product exorbitantly high. In 1999, the brand was priced at 8 lakhs. This along with the general VFM perception of Maruti brand caused a lukewarm response to Baleno. Later Baleno reduced the price substantially to around Rs 5.5 lakhs. Despite these efforts, Baleno failed to deliver volumes resulting in its withdrawal in 2006. It is said that the quality of the product is evident in the fact that Baleno is still used as a racing car ...

My daughter's 1st grade teacher let me know she would always be a leader and not a follower and this still holds true 24-years later.  I have also remained great friends with the awesome lady providing this advice, and I think about it often and how it applies to health and fitness. We all need to be leaders and not followers when it comes to our nutrition , exercise, sleep and everything related to improving the quality of our health. I am a  skeptic when it comes to the "too good to be true" fitness miracles regardless of who is sharing the information.  I refuse to follow into the beliefs of others just because they heard it was the next best thing to sliced bread and how they have lost 20lbs in 5 days, or some crazy thing like that.  I feel the same way about exercise programs and will not trend in with the crowd because it has been advertised as the coolest "big hit" workout ever.  What does impress me is solid research and leading myself with what works ...

This is a review of what I will call a "classic" Customs and Border Protection ruling about which everyone in the trade should be familiar. In this case, we are talking about HQ 545907 (Oct. 11, 1996), which is the reconsideration of HQ 545278 (Apr. 7, 1994). This ruling involves a contract between Ford Motor Company and Yamaha Motor Company. Under the terms of the deal, Yamaha was to design and develop a modified Ford engine. Ford agreed that it would purchase any prototypes Yamaha made. If the program was successful, Ford agreed to enter into a contract for the purchase of the modified engines. To develop the modified engine, Yamaha produced 178 prototypes, which were purchased by Ford. Ford imported 156 of the prototypes and paid duty on them based on the price paid to Yamaha. Note that this is 1996, before tariff item 9817.85.01 was added to the tariff. The program was a success and Ford started importing the engines. The relevant question is whether the sums Ford paid ...

When it comes to fitness, I am not a believer of the "more is better" philosophy. Sometimes doing more exercise, juicing more, supplementing more, and eating more protein for example can come back to bite you in the butt.  When will people realize getting fit and maintaining a healthy body is a simple process and does not require all the "more" believed to be better?  Focused hour workouts that include a variety of cardio, weight training, and flexibility at least 4-times per week are sufficient.  Throwing in active rest days and having fun are also part of the exercise week and by all means should be enjoyed.  Nutrition is about eating a healthy and wide variety of all the macronutrients: lean proteins, good carbs, and fats.  Food is our fuel, but our body only requires a certain amount and over-consumption of one can actually have adverse health effects, just as eliminating healthy foods can cause nutrient deficiencies. If I was conducting a consult with a po...

In Composite Technology International, Inc v. United States , the Court of International Trade considered the tariff classification of wooden door stiles and rails consisting of a 9.5 mm thick pine cap laminated to a based of laminated poplar wood layers. Each poplar layer is lass than 6 mm thick. The exposed surface is a layer of pine. Customs classified the merchandise in 4421.90.97 as other articles of wood. The imported protested that classification and claimed that the correct classification is 4412.99.51 as other plywood, veneered panels, and similar laminated wood. The issue, therefore, was whether the imported merchandise is properly classified as plywood, veneered panels, or similar laminated wood. If so, it would not be classifiable as an "other article of wood." According to the plaintiff, the merchandise described above fits squarely within the definition of a veneered panel or, in the alternative, as a "similar laminated wood." For those of you who, lik...

The second recent Court of International Trade decision of interest primarily to lawyers is United States v. International Trading Services, LLC and Julio Lorza.  In this case, the lawyer representing International Trading Services and Mr. Lorza tried to withdraw from his representation of the corporate defendant while apparently continuing to represent the individual. It is not very easy to fire a client in the middle of litigation. The CIT's Rule 75(d) requires that an appearance by an attorney may only withdrawn by order of the Court. It requires that the lawyer make a motion and that the motion be served on the client. Here, the corporate defendant dissolved pursuant to Florida law before counsel was hired by Mr. Lorza to represent both the defunct company and the individual. Counsel seeks to withdraw from representing the corporation on the entirely reasonable grounds that it no longer exists. Consequently, according to counsel, he has no corporate client to represent. The Un...

Peter England that came to India with the promise of an Honest Shirt, has undergone yet another change. This time, the brand has seen a significant change in its personality. From a stiff collar personality, Peter England has become a very youth, adventurous brand. The change in the brand personality is now reflected in the new TVC. Along with the new personality, the brand has also adopted a new tagline " Be Everything You Love ". Watch the new TVC here: Peter England - Be everything you love The brand that was launched in 1997 had made a significant positioning change in 2010 when it adopted the tagline " Beginning of Good Things ". The brand had a celebrity endorser at that time. Even then, the brand's personality was that of an affable, honest, serious brand. In the new avatar, Peter England has become a new person. The new personality reflected by the main actor in the advertisement is young, adventurous and probably irreverent. This is a serious shift from...

There have been several recent cases at the Court of International Trade that merit discussion. Two, in particular, are primarily of interest to lawyers. They show the truth of the old adage that bad facts make bad law. The first is United States v. Jeanette Pacheco . In this case, the United States of America is pursuing Ms. Pacheco to the tune of $2.6 million for her "role" in a customs fraud scheme. The "scheme" went like this: A licensed customs broker named Dionicio Bustamante approached Pacheco in a nightclub. He offered her a way to make some fast cash and gave her $200 to sign a customs power of attorney. It is not clear that Pacheco had any additional contact with Bustamante thereafter. After that, Bustamante began making entry of dried peppers, declaring the value to be $0.11 per kilogram. It turns out that a legally correct value was $3.75 per kilogram. When Customs and Border Protection queried Pacheco about the value, she failed to respond. To complicat...