Acting on allegations filed by Schagrin Associates on behalf of Cambria Company LLC under the Enforce and Protect Act (“EAPA”), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“Customs”) has cracked down on two illegal schemes used by importers to evade existing tariffs on quartz surface products made in China. As a result of Customs’ findings, each of the importers involved will pay tariffs between 300% and 500% of the value of the imported goods.
In the first investigation, Customs found substantial evidence that 15 companies imported quartz surface products from China into the United States by undervaluation, misclassification, and/or transshipment through Malaysia and therefore avoided the payment of existing antidumping and countervailing duties (“AD/CVD”),
In the second investigation, Customs found substantial evidence that Vivaldi Commercial LLC and its affiliates imported quartz surface products from China into the United States without paying applicable duties by misclassifying them as “crushed glass products.”
Customs initiated these investigations after Schagrin Associates submitted numerous EAPA allegations on behalf of U.S. quartz surface product manufacturer Cambria Company LLC. Customs conducted thorough and wide-ranging investigations that covered the illegal activities of multiple Chinese producers and exporters, several Malaysian companies involved in transshipping merchandise, and the importers that participating in these evasion schemes.
During its investigations, Customs found that some of the parties had intentionally withheld information requested by the agency and submitted fraudulent documents as part of attempts to cover up their illegal evasion activities. Some parties submitted information that was intentionally misleading and contained numerous discrepancies. Despite these attempts to conceal the truth, Customs still found an overwhelming amount of incontrovertible evidence of illegal evasion.
In light of Custom’s determination, Customs will suspend or continue to suspend the entries of quartz surface products by all importers that were subject to the agency’s investigations until it receives instructions from the U.S. Department of Commerce as to the correct AD/CVD rates that should be applied to the entries, and then duties will be imposed.