Customs Publishes Treasury Decision On New Binding Ruling Procedures

January 2003

As of September 16, 2002, Customs will implement its final rule as Treasury Decision 02-49, establishing revised procedures for issuing, modifying and revoking binding rulings.

The final rule, to be promulgated as, inter alia, 19 C.F.R. § 177.21, sets forth requirements for the treatment of interpretive rulings, particularly those found to be in error by Customs. Some provisions of the notice, which can be found at 67 FR 53483-01, state that before Customs changes an established practice by modifying or revoking a current ruling, it shall publish a notice to that effect in the Customs Bulletin and allow 30 days for interested parties to submit written comments; when a ruling will affect treatment previously accorded to substantially similar transactions, case by case procedures will determine whether that treatment should continue.