International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook, Volume 3 Customs Law (6th edition)

Bhala, Raj

Publication

International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook, Volume 3 Customs Law (6th edition)

Bhala, Raj

Abstract

Volume Three, Customs Law, is about a (maybe the) “bread-and-butter” specialty within International Trade Law, namely, the clearance of merchandise exported from one country into the customs territory of another country. Every article of merchandise shipped across an international boundary must satisfy the customs rules of the importing country. Though the GATT-WTO regime contains treaties on Customs Law, most of the key rules are at the national level. So, the focus of this Volume is on U.S. Customs Law. As the dominant player in world trade, and the one with the most sophisticated set of customs rules dating to the founding of the American Republic, that focus is the most influential example. Part One deals with the answer to an obvious question: how is it known whether a good is “foreign,” and thus being imported? The answer is a Rule of Origin. That answer belies the complexity of identifying and applying the correct ROO for a shipment of merchandise. This Part, however, expounds on the different conceptual types of ROOs, and how they are employed in practice. Part Two deals with the answer to a non-obvious question: what options exist for bringing merchandise into an importing country? Most merchandise is entered for consumption, but there are other possibilities. Warehouses and FTZs are among the leading alternatives, and afford importers and exporters alike transactional and strategic flexibility. Parts Three and Four deal with the heart of the customs clearance process – classification and valuation, respectively. Tariff liability owed by an importer of record depends on the proper classification of merchandise in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, which yields an applied duty rate, multiplied by the value of the product, which thus yields a specific tariff figure. Both processes, classification and valuation, are zero-sum games: importers seek to minimize their tariff liability, while governmental customs authorities, like U.S. CBP, wish to maximize tariff revenue. The games are refereed, as it were, by rules on product classification, such as the GRI, and on methodologies for valuation. These rules and methodologies, along with the vast U.S. case law on them, and how to read a Tariff Schedule, are covered in this Part. Finally, Part Five summarizes special Customs Law programs under U.S. Customs law. One program, drawback, allows importers to be refunded certain tariffs on inputs they previously paid, when finished merchandise is exported. A second program, pre-shipment inspection, can help speed up the customs clearance process by taking care of necessary checks in the exporting country. PSI can be especially helpful to developing and least developed countries, ensuring their merchandise – including perishable products – are not held up at entry ports in developed countries because they fail the checks. Likewise, poor countries can benefit from trade facilitation and the possibilities afforded by the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. Overall, Volume Three provides highly practical material used in the everyday life of International Trade Lawyers around the world. This Volume further underscores the importance that customs clearance be as algorithmic a process as possible, so as to expedite trade by minimizing inefficiencies and/or opportunities for corruption. Like the other seven Volumes of International Trade Law: A Comprehensive E-Textbook, this Volume is available Open Access, and thus freely, quickly downloadable.

Description

This book is Volume Three of an Eight-Volume set. All of the Volumes are available in KU ScholarWorks. Links to all eight volumes are available in the Abstracts file in this record. About the Author: Born in Toronto of Indian and Celtic heritage, Rakesh (Raj) Kumar Bhala is a dual Canadian-U.S. citizen prominent in the fields of International Trade Law, Islamic Law (Sharī‘a), and Law and Literature. Raj is the inaugural Leo. S. Brenneisen Distinguished Professor at the University of Kansas School of Law (KU Law). He is published widely world-wide – authoring 100 scholarly articles and 13 books, including the International Trade Law Textbook, which has been used at over 100 law schools around the globe. Ingram’s Business Magazine designated him as one of “50 Kansans You Should Know.” Raj has testified before the U.K. Parliament, House of Commons, International Trade Committee, on trade and human rights. Media frequently call upon Raj. Across 65 consecutive months (from January 2017-October 2022), “On Point” was his column on International Law and Economics, which Bloomberg Quint / BQ Prime (Mumbai) published and distributed to approximately 6.2 million readers globally. Raj is a Harvard Law School (HLS) graduate (Cum Laude). As a Marshall Scholar, Raj earned two Master’s degrees, from the London School of Economics (LSE) in Economics, and from Oxford (Trinity College) in Management (Industrial Relations). His undergraduate degree is from Duke (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa), where he was an Angier B. Duke Scholar and double-majored in Economics and Sociology. After HLS, Raj practiced at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he twice won the President’s Award for Excellence thanks to his service as a delegate to the United Nations Conference on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), along with a Letter of Commendation from the U.S. Department of State. He is a member of the State Department’s Speaker Program. Raj has served in officer positions at the International Bar Association (IBA) and Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), on the Executive Board of Directors of the Carriage Club of Kansas City (including as Treasurer), and been on the Alumni Association Board of the University School of Milwaukee (USM), his high school alma mater. He is grateful to his USM teachers for a liberal arts education that made all good things possible. Raj loves fitness training, has finished 115 marathons, including the “Big Five” of the “World’s Majors” (Boston twice, New York twice, Chicago twice, Berlin, and London). He enjoys studying Shakespeare and (especially since becoming Catholic at Easter Vigil 2001) Theology – and watching baseball.