After a closed hearing on Friday, March 21st, following CBP’s latest affidavit, Judge Eaton issued an Order in the Atmus Filtration case concerning the refund process.
The Order :
– Amended the Court’s original March 5th Order instructing CBP to refund IEEPA duties to includes the additional duties imposed on goods of Brazil and India pursuant to separate IEEPA EOs (i.e., the IEEPA India/Russia Oil 25% and Brazil 40%)
– Discussed the fact that there is no consensus between the parties concerning the reliquidation of entries for which liquidation has become final, resulting in the Court reminding importers of the 19 U.S.C. § 1514 protest process for entries that have been liquidated.
– Continued to stay the original March 5th Order instructing CBP to automatically refund IEEPA duties
– Required CBP to provide another status update on March 31st, which would be followed by another closed status hearing
– This can negatively impact a large portion of the informal entries as they liquidate at the time of entry
Integral text of the Order can be found here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cit.19346/gov.uscourts.cit.19346.49.0.pdf
This new update supports our recommendation that importers consider filing protests for entries nearing the 180-day post-liquidation protest deadline, requesting suspension of the protest decision until the refund process is established. This is different and a material change from the initial ruling that CIT can order CBP to reliquidate all entries. This is not the final ruling as parties are not in consensus, but our guidance remains the same:
- Ensure that prior to filing for refunds, your entries are fully compliant (potentially using Gaia Dynamics platform to start that process of verifying)
- Ensure that all your entries are complete with supporting documentation
- Track all liquidation dates
The day before, on Thursday, March 19th, CBP provided an update on CAPE progress. Here’s where things stand across CAPE’s four components:
– Claim Portal: 73% complete. CBP reports that this component is substantially developed and undergoing multiple rounds of testing.
– Mass Processing: 45% complete. Development continues on ACE validations and event history tracking to maintain a robust audit trail. CBP plans to complete remaining validations and begin testing within the next week.
– Review and Liquidation/Reliquidation: 80% complete. Testing of the liquidation/reliquidation function has begun, though further progress depends on other CAPE components.
– Refund: 63% complete. CBP has completed development of a CAPE-specific refund processing function and is testing refund consolidation — which will consolidate refunds by liquidation/reliquidation date and importer of record (or a designated party). Additional testing is planned within the next week.
Link to the Thursday, March 19th filling can be found here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cit.19346/gov.uscourts.cit.19346.47.0_1.pdf
Implementation of Jones Act Waiver Issued to the Department of War, Dated March 17, 2026
On March 17, 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a limited waiver of 46 U.S. C. § 55102 (the “Jones Act”) pursuant to 46 U.S.C. § 501(a), at the request of the Department of War. The approved waiver covers a 60-day period, expiring at 11:59 p.m.
Eastern Daylight Time on Sunday, May 17, 2026. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requests that any member of the trade community who intends to conduct transportation of commodities listed in the attachment on a foreign-flag vessel, authorized by and within the parameters of the March 17, 2026, waiver, notify CBP at [email protected] with the following information of any such transportation:
- Vessel name (including IMO number and flag)
- Commodity and relevant Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) Code
- Carrier
- Ports and dates of departure and arrival (include CBP port code)
As always, Logistics Plus is here to support you.
