Highlights of Sidley’s recent Customs engagements include:
- Assisted Wortmann KG, a major shoe company, in a claim for payment of interest on repaid duties, before the German Fiscal Court (Finanzgericht Düsseldorf) and before the Court of Justice of the European Union (Case C-365/15 Wortmann);
- Obtained a favorable ruling on country of origin for government procurement purposes for a major supplier of office furniture;
- Designed and implemented a program for a multinational company to enhance compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures imposed by countries around the world;
- Assured adequate supply of digital televisions (DTVs) in U.S. market during critical time of switch to all-digital broadcasting, by obtaining favorable advance ruling from U.S. Customs that newly designed DTVs were outside the scope of a Section 337 Exclusion Order on patent infringement issued by the International Trade Commission;
- On behalf of a major petrochemical company, successfully rebuffed efforts by customs administrations in several jurisdictions, including Canada, Mexico, the European Union and Japan, to change the tariff classification and duty applicable to the company’s main product line;
- Counsel of record in Koyo Corporation of U.S.A. v. United States, a ground-breaking decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit expanding the rights of importers to challenge duty overpayments retained by the government;
- Improved global market access and duty rationalization for remanufactured goods on behalf of a large heavy equipment producer, through multidisciplinary initiatives including administrative proceedings, trade negotiations and legislation;
- Served as counsel to a trade association (U.S. Business Alliance for Customs Modernization - BACM), acted as a delegate to the World Customs Organization (WCO) consultative group developing global supply chain security standards;
- Prepared a prior disclosure on behalf of a global manufacturer of semiconductor devices for valuation errors related to R&D activities, assists and transfer pricing;
- Obtained the refund of EU customs duty assessments totaling over US$20 million stemming from an anti-fraud investigation of various multinational corporations accused of abusing a preferential trade regime;
- Counseled and assisted a large home improvement retailer in developing, and obtaining government approval of, an Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) program; and
- Advised a high technology trade association on strategies it might pursue to improve the classification and duty treatment of video game hardware and software.