HQ 112031: Vessel repair; Supplemental Petition for Review; Pre- liquidation filing; Protest procedures; Vessel EXPORT FREEDOM; Vessel repair entry number 514-3003356-6

Native CBP ruling rendition. Applicability is fact-specific; modification/revocation relationships and original publisher date are retained. Publisher sentinel year0001 means unknown date, not a historical legal adoption.

                            HQ 112031

                        February 7, 1992


VES-13-18-CO:R:IT:C  112031 LLB

CATEGORY:  Carriers

Deputy Assistant Regional Commissioner
Classification and Value Division
ATTN:  Regional Vessel Repair Liquidation Unit
6 World Trade Center
New York, New York 10048

RE:  Vessel repair; Supplemental Petition for Review; Pre-
     liquidation filing; Protest procedures; Vessel EXPORT
     FREEDOM; Vessel repair entry number 514-3003356-6

Dear Sir:

     This is in response to your memorandum of December 9, 1991,
which forwards for our review and decision a letter from Farrell
Lines, Inc., which is submitted as a Supplemental Petition for
Review in order to appeal an earlier decision issued by
Headquarters in regard to the above-captioned entry.

FACTS:

     Customs Headquarters had occasion to review documentation
with regard to this vessel repair entry when it was submitted as
an Application for Relief (Ruling Letter 110741, December 3,
1990), and later as a Petition for Review (Ruling Letter 111494,
September 24, 1991).  Based upon the findings issued in the
second letter, the entry was liquidated on November 22, 1991 and
reliquidated on December 13, 1991.  The document which is the
subject of the present appeal is dated November 14, 1991, eight
days prior to the initial liquidation.  Three items are appealed,
but no specific justification or evidence of any kind is
provided.  Instead, we are presented with unsupported "proposals"
as to the amount which should be dutiable.


ISSUE:

     Whether the vessel operator has presented an appeal which is
reviewable, both in terms of format and sufficiency of evidence.

LAW AND ANALYSIS:

     The Customs Regulations provide specific administrative
review and liquidation procedures.  Interested parties are
offered the opportunity to submit an Application for Relief from
vessel repair duties, followed by a petition for review from an
adverse initial ruling (19 CFR 4.14 (d)(1) and (2),
respectively).  The regulations further provide that once the
petitioning party is informed of the decision on the petition,
the liquidation of the entry shall be promptly initiated (19 CFR
4.14 (d)(2)(iv)).

     Any appeal remaining to a vessel operator after the first
two reviews detailed above is a post-liquidation process.
Customs formerly implemented a bifurcated appeal process for
post-liquidation matters, depending upon whether an appeal
related to a classification matter, or whether it involved
remission issues arising under subsection (d) of the vessel
repair statute (19 U.S.C. 1466(d)).  The need for any such
distinctions was ended, however, by the decision of the Court of
International Trade in the case of Penrod Drilling Co. v. United
States, 727 F. Supp. 1463 (C.I.T. 1989).  In that decision it was
made clear that all post-liquidation appeals of vessel repair
issues should be made by following the protest procedures set
forth in section 514, Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (19 U.S.C.
1514).

     In practice, since the Customs Regulations still provide for
the now superfluous Supplemental Petition procedures, Customs has
been treating such timely-filed appeals as protests.  This is not
possible in the present matter for the reason that the operator
has already utilized the only two pre-liquidation procedures
available (Application and Petition).  The present document was
filed prior to liquidation of the entry in question, a practice
outside the allowable limits as established under regulation.


HOLDING:

     For the reasons stated in the Law and Analysis portion of
this ruling, the matter under review may not be decided on the
merits.  This decision should be immediately communicated to the
vessel operator, and that party should be informed of the right
to file a protest under 19 U.S.C. 1514.  Since the entry in
question was reliquidated on December 13, 1991, the operator has
until March 12, 1992, to file.  Any protest must be received by
Customs on or before that date.

                              Sincerely,



                              B. James Fritz
                              Chief
                              Carrier Rulings Branch