Shipments of apparel manufactured by some Hong Kong firms are being detained pending review of production documents. The detentions are based on verification team visits to Hong Kong at the end of 2005 which resulted in 145 factories closed or were found to have problems. Current shipments from factories thought to be closed likely will be seized until the importer can establish that the goods were manufactured before the factory closed. CBP is issuing requests for production document (CBP Form 28) for shipments released in 2005 where CBP believes the factory has closed. If production documents are not provided, or are found to be inadequate, redelivery notices, and ultimately liquidated damage claims will ensue. CBP has 180 days from the date of release to issue a redelivery notice.
Assist Ruling
CBP Headquarters addressed the question of whether a sketch and patterns were assists and, therefore, dutiable. Generally, designs, sketches and the like that are created outside the United States are considered assists and, therefore, dutiable, depending on the nature of their use by the manufacturer and whether they are essential to the manufacturing process. Where the sketches, patterns and the like merely facilitate the oral or narrative description of what the importer wants to produce, CBP has held that there is no assist. On the other hand, what appears to be very similar types of sketches and patterns have been held to be assists on the grounds that the manufacturer could not have made the imported product without access to these materials. In this case, CBP held that the sketches were not dutiable assists. The ruling describes the sketches as preliminary conceptual sketches not essential to the production of the apparel but merely facilitate the oral and narrative descriptions of what the importer would like the foreign manufacturer to produce. However, the patterns for which the importer pays and then provides free of charge to the manufacturer are dutiable assists.