By: Brian Walczyk, Compliance Manager, TradeInsights, LCB, CCS

The Court of International Trade (CIT) Judge Eaton certified a class in the lead case for IEEPA tariffs in a order and opinion issued on October 8th. The litigation is now set to proceed as a class action.

Following the order the government has 45 days to appeal the certification, which many trade professionals and attorneys expect to happen.

The development comes as a positive for importers who have entries considered final in liquidation, yet it is not a direct order at this point for US CBP to begin issuing refunds under the class action.

It is still recommended that importers with IEEPA duties not yet refunded pursue those monies through the three primary methods available:

1. CAPE Phase 1 & 2 filings,
2. Protests for entries between 80-180 days past liquidation,
3. Or filing an individual suit at the CIT, and eventual CAPE Phase 3 claim.

For individual suits at the CIT an importer generally has two years to bring an action under 28 U.S.C. § 1581(i), which conservatively puts deadlines for these suits in February to April 2027.

We will continue to monitor this situation and issue updates as needed.

Please contact your V. Alexander account team, or you may also contact our Trade Compliance team at tradeinsights@valexander.com with any questions, and you can always follow us on our website www.valexander.com for updates on this and other topics.