Organic Chemicals Importer Loses Duty Appeal

U.S. importer Industrial Chemicals Inc. lost its appeal seeking to escape duties on organic chemicals from India, in a ruling by the Federal Circuit Nov. 8.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection wrongly denied the company’s imports duty-free treatment under the Generalized System of Preferences, Industrial Chemicals claimed. But a lower court didn’t have jurisdiction to hear the company’s lawsuit, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed.

The GSP program provides duty-free treatment on a wide range of products from certain developing countries, including India. The program lapsed in 2013. When Congress reauthorized the program in 2015, ...