CIT Says CBP Not Entitled to Customs Inspection Fees When Customer Doesn't Travel to US
The Court of International Trade on March 18 held that CBP is not entitled to Customs Passenger Processing Fees paid by individual passengers who cancel their tickets and who never receive a refund or fail to use a travel credit.…
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Judge Gary Katzmann sided with Southwest Airlines on the issue, first finding that CBP isn't entitled to the fee under the statute, 19 U.S.C. § 58c(a), where no passenger arrives in the U.S. and where the agency didn't provide any customs services. The judge also held that CBP's Guidance Letters on the topic can't usurp the statute and that Southwest doesn't hold the fees in a "constructive trust" for CBP, since the agency has "no equitable interest in a fee where no passenger travels."