On August 25, 2021, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a License (the License) pursuant to OFAC’s Global Terrorism Sanctions Regulations (GTSR or SDGT Sanctions) and Foreign Terrorism Organizations Sanctions Regulations (FTOSR) following a request from the Department of State.  Under Section 1 of the License, the U.S. Government, its employees, grantees, contractors, and others acting on the U.S. Government’s behalf (collectively the Licensees) are authorized to “engage in…

In ruling NY N321071 (September 9, 2021), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) discussed the country of origin of an instant-read food thermometer. The item features a probe that folds into the body of the thermometer, as well as a second detachable corded probe that can be plugged into a receptacle on the thermometer. This corded probe allows users to check the temperature of food inside an oven while the LCD display of the thermometer remains…

In ruling NY N320917 (September 2, 2021), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) discussed the classification of four wine preservation systems. A breakdown of the four products is provided below: Model Three SL: consists of a Coravin Model Three device, a needle clearing tool, a bottle bag, and in some instances a screw cap; Model Three Plus: consists of a Coravin Model Three device, an aerator, two screw caps, a needle clearing tool, and a bottle…

On August 31, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the nomination of Adrienne Harris as the Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services – New York’s top financial regulator and a key regulator in the banking, anti-money laundering, fintech, insurance, and cryptocurrency spaces. Harris, whose nomination is still subject to confirmation, has diverse experience serving in both the private and public sector. Harris currently serves as a Professor of Practice at the…

In ruling NY N320340 (July 30, 2021), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) discussed the classification of three different from Argentina. A breakdown of the three products is provided below: Cheddar Sticks: composed of cheddar cheese, wheat flour, water, refined sunflower oil, modified starch, rice flour, salt, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, pasteurized egg powder, flavoring, guar gum, mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, and annatto extract. Provolone Sticks: composed of provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese, wheat flour, water, refined…

On August 26, 2021, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that for FY 2021 between October 1, 2020 and August 6, 2021, the agency had detained approximately $368 million ($367,743,052) worth of cargo in relation to forced labor by issuing Withhold Release Orders (WROs). As noted by the agency’s trade statistics, this represented a total number of 967 detained shipments during this period of time, which marks an increase of 331 stopped shipments…

In ruling NY N320557 (August 4, 2021), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) discussed the country of origin of five Thin Film Transistor – Liquid Crystal Display (TFT-LCD) modules. All five modules are virtually identical in composition, as they are all composed of a TFT-LCD cell, polarizers, a backlight, a driver and control printed circuit board (PCB), and a flexible PCB for connection. TFT display technology allows for the construction of high-resolution LCD displays, and the…