19 CFR Updated to Amend Protest Filing Requirements

The Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004 amended several statutes that changed the way CBP handles protests. Since the Trade Act if 2004 went into effect on December 18, 2004, significant changes to Parts 173 and 174 were implemented, yet no changes were made to the official regulations. This was often confusing to people who read the regulations and were not familiar with the new 180-day provision. For the last six years, Part 174 of the regulations continued to show that protests must be filed within 90 days from liquidation and Part 173.4 continued to show clerical errors, mistakes of fact and inadvertences could be corrected within one year after liquidation by requesting reliquidation. Finally, the changes are being made to the actual regulations, which include Parts 145, 159, 173 and 174. A short summary of the most important changes is provided below.


Part 173.0 – 173.4
Since the repeal of 19 U.S.C. 1520(c) and 1521, the provisions in 173.0 – 173.4 only apply to entries made prior December 18, 2004.

Part 174.11
Protest is the proper mechanism for challenging clerical errors, mistakes of fact and other inadvertences since 19 U.S.C. 1520(c) was repealed.

Part 174.12
This section was modified to authorize electronic filing of protests. Protests filed electronically are not required to be filed in quadruplicate.

The time for filing protests was extended from 90 days to 180 days after liquidation, reliquidation or date of the decision necessitating the protest. The 180-day period runs from the date of liquidation or reliquidation and NOT from the date of the notice.

174.14
Protests may be amended any time prior to the expiration of the 180-day period within the original protest may be filed. This includes electronic amendments.

174.32
CBP must publish or make available protest review decisions within 90 days after issuance.


Source:
“Technical Corrections: Matters Subject to Protest and Various Protest Time Limits.” Federal Register 76:10 (14 January 2011). Retrieved from http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/pdf/2011-679.pdf