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For importers with finally liquidated entries that are more than 80 days post-liquidation, filing a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) may offer the quickest path to secure IEEPA tariff refunds for those entries. Importers should discuss filing with CIT, as well as other options to receive CAPE Phase 3 refunds, with counsel to determine the best strategy for their circumstances.
Last month, CBP appealed CIT’s order entitling all importers to IEEPA refunds regardless of whether they formally sought relief through CIT and maintains that CIT can only issue such refunds when importers file with CIT and receive an importer-specific reliquidation order.
For entries liquidated more than 80 days ago, CBP has stated that once importers file with CIT and receive a reliquidation order, they can submit their refund request when CAPE Phase 3 opens in the coming weeks.
In a July 15th order in Euro-Notions Florida, Inc. v. CBP, Court No. 25-00595, CIT announced that it will enter an order “direct[ing] Customs to reliquidate certain finally liquidated entries.” The order will detail the procedure further and “will be entered in each of the approximately 3,700 IEEPA cases assigned to the court.” Once plaintiffs follow the procedure outlined in the order, they can submit a CAPE Phase 3 declaration to receive the corresponding IEEPA tariff refunds.
In instances where importers already filed protests, a CIT-issued reliquidation order (and confirmation of eligibility for CAPE Phase 3) enables the protest to be withdrawn so that the CAPE Phase 3 declaration can proceed. For importers who have not yet chosen between a protest and litigation, CIT litigation may offer a more effective route to a refund on entries liquidated more than 80 days ago. Given CBP’s commitment to CAPE Phase 3 refunds and CIT’s anticipated issuance of individual orders, however, CIT filing appears to provide the quickest avenue to a refund.
Braumiller Law Group will continue to monitor the timing of the CAPE Phase 3 release and will provide further updates as they become available.
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