Educational seminars to improve efforts to classify and appraise imported articles, to improve trade enforcement efforts, and to otherwise facilitate legitimate international trade

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§4313. Educational seminars to improve efforts to classify and appraise imported articles, to improve trade enforcement efforts, and to otherwise facilitate legitimate international trade

(a) Establishment

The Commissioner and the Director shall establish and carry out on a fiscal year basis educational seminars to-

(1) improve the ability of personnel of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to classify and appraise articles imported into the United States in accordance with the customs and trade laws of the United States;

(2) improve the trade enforcement efforts of personnel of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and personnel of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and

(3) otherwise improve the ability and effectiveness of personnel of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and personnel of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to facilitate legitimate international trade.

(b) Content

(1) Classifying and appraising imported articles

In carrying out subsection (a)(1), the Commissioner, the Director, and interested parties in the private sector selected under subsection (c) shall provide instruction and related instructional materials at each educational seminar carried out under this section to personnel of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and, as appropriate, to personnel of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the following:

(A) Conducting a physical inspection of an article imported into the United States, including testing of samples of the article, to determine if the article is mislabeled in the manifest or other accompanying documentation.

(B) Reviewing the manifest and other accompanying documentation of an article imported into the United States to determine if the country of origin of the article listed in the manifest or other accompanying documentation is accurate.

(C) Customs valuation.

(D) Industry supply chains and other related matters as determined to be appropriate by the Commissioner.

(2) Trade enforcement efforts

In carrying out subsection (a)(2), the Commissioner, the Director, and interested parties in the private sector selected under subsection (c) shall provide instruction and related instructional materials at each educational seminar carried out under this section to personnel of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and, as appropriate, to personnel of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify opportunities to enhance enforcement of the following:

(A) Collection of countervailing duties assessed under subtitle A of title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671 et seq.) and antidumping duties assessed under subtitle B of title VII of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1673 et seq.).

(B) Addressing evasion of duties on imports of textiles.

(C) Protection of intellectual property rights.

(D) Enforcement of child labor laws.

(3) Approval of Commissioner and Director

The instruction and related instructional materials at each educational seminar carried out under this section shall be subject to the approval of the Commissioner and the Director.

(c) Selection process

(1) In general

The Commissioner shall establish a process to solicit, evaluate, and select interested parties in the private sector for purposes of assisting in providing instruction and related instructional materials described in subsection (b) at each educational seminar carried out under this section.

(2) Criteria

The Commissioner shall evaluate and select interested parties in the private sector under the process established under paragraph (1) based on-

(A) availability and usefulness;

(B) the volume, value, and incidence of mislabeling or misidentification of origin of imported articles; and

(C) other appropriate criteria established by the Commissioner.

(3) Public availability

The Commissioner and the Director shall publish in the Federal Register a detailed description of the process established under paragraph (1) and the criteria established under paragraph (2).

(d) Special rule for antidumping and countervailing duty orders

(1) In general

The Commissioner shall give due consideration to carrying out an educational seminar under this section in whole or in part to improve the ability of personnel of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to enforce a countervailing or antidumping duty order issued under section 706 or 736 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1671e or 1673e) upon the request of a petitioner in an action underlying such countervailing or antidumping duty order.

(2) Interested party

A petitioner described in paragraph (1) shall be treated as an interested party in the private sector for purposes of the requirements of this section.

(e) Performance standards

The Commissioner and the Director shall establish performance standards to measure the development and level of achievement of educational seminars carried out under this section.

(f) Reporting

Not later than September 30, 2016, and annually thereafter, the Commissioner and the Director shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the effectiveness of educational seminars carried out under this section.

(g) Definitions

In this section:

(1) Director

The term "Director" means the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

(2) United States

The term "United States" means the customs territory of the United States, as defined in General Note 2 to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

(3) U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel

The term "U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel" means import specialists, auditors, and other appropriate employees of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

(4) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel

The term "U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel" means Homeland Security Investigations Directorate personnel and other appropriate employees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

( Pub. L. 114–125, title I, §104, Feb. 24, 2016, 130 Stat. 130 .)

References in Text

The Tariff Act of 1930, referred to in subsec. (b)(2)(A), is act June 17, 1930, ch. 497, 46 Stat. 590 . Subtitles A and B of title VII of the Act are classified generally to parts I (§671 et seq.) and II (§1673 et seq.), respectively, of subtitle IV of chapter 4 of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1654 of this title and Tables.

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States, referred to in subsec. (g)(2), is not set out in the Code. See Publication of Harmonized Tariff Schedule note set out under section 1202 of this title.


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