Industry News

Federal Circuit Will Not Rehear GRK Canada Tariff Classification Case

December 10, 2014


    In an 8-3 decision on December 8, 2014, the Federal Circuit refused to rehear a case regarding duties on screws from Canada.  The U.S. Court of International Trade initially decided to impose lower duties on the product, but this decision was reversed back in August with a 2-1 decision in the Federal Circuit.  GRK Canada, a major exporter of screws, disagreed with U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (USCBP) tariff classification for their product and will now return to CIT to continue the proceedings.

    The case began in 2009 when GRK Canada stated that USCBP classified their products as “other wood screws,” which had a 12.5% duty.  GRK Canada believed their screws would be classified as “self-tapping screws,” which have a duty of 6.2%.  The CIT ruled in favor of GRK Canada, but the Federal Circuit reversed this decision because the court had not reviewed the use of the screws during the classification process.

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