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

US CBP issued an update to the Court of International Trade (CIT) on October 26 concerning the progress of IEEPA refunds handled through CAPE.

CAPE Phase 3 launched on Oct 6 and was available for any plaintiffs who had filed suit at the court before July 30th. In the update US CBP Brandon Lord confirmed that Phase 3 is now open to plaintiffs who have filed before Aug 14, and that CBP would continue to notify plaintiffs, via email to their counsel, when they are able to file the Phase 3 claim.

The CIT issued an additional order on Oct 29th that US CBP provide another update on Nov 10th regarding CAPE progress. The CIT order did provide the court’s understanding that “plaintiffs in individual cases are eligible to process their [IEEPA] refund claims for their finally liquidated entries that are the subject of a protest, in CAPE phase 3,[…]

(1) even if the protest has not been withdrawn, and

(2) no matter if the protest relates exclusively to IEEPA duties or includes other issues as well.”

Phase 3 will continue to expand to other suits that have been filed at the court on a rolling basis.

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.