U.S. Customs and Border Protection August 2, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document proposes to amend U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to implement changes to the drawback regulations as directed by the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA). These proposed regulations establish a new process for drawback pursuant to TFTEA which liberalizes the merchandise substitution standard, simplifies recordkeeping requirements, extends and standardizes timelines for filing drawback claims, and requires the electronic filing of drawback claims. TFTEA allows a transition period wherein drawback claimants will have the choice between filing claims under the existing process detailed in the current regulations or filing claims under the proposed new process. This document explains how filings during the transition period will work, discusses the interim policy guidance procedures for filing claims prior to these regulations becoming final, and proposes to make TFTEA-related changes, dealing with bonds, regarding joint and several liability for the importer of the goods and the drawback claimant, and technical corrections and conforming changes to CBP regulations. This document also proposes to clarify the prohibition on the filing of a substitution drawback claim for internal revenue excise tax paid on imported merchandise in situations where no excise tax was paid upon the substituted merchandise; or the substituted merchandise is the subject of a different claim for refund or drawback of tax under any provision of the Internal Revenue Code. CBP is proposing these amendments regarding excise taxes to protect the revenue by clarifying the relationship between drawback claims and Federal excise tax liability. Further, CBP proposes to add a basic importation and entry bond condition to foster compliance.