USMCA Certification Provisions for CBP
Section 810.400 Scope and Purpose of This Subpart
In order to receive preferential tariff treatment under the Act, a producer must certify that its production of covered vehicles meets the LVC requirements, including the high-wage components of the LVC requirements that the Department administers. See 19 U.S.C. 4532(c)(1)(A). The Secretary, in consultation with CBP, must ensure that the producer’s certification submitted to CBP does not contain omissions or errors before the certification is considered properly filed. See 19 U.S.C. 4532(c)(1)(B)(i). Consistent with the Act, the Department’s certification role is limited to reviewing the high-wage components of the LVC certification for omissions or errors. All other certification matters are outside of the Secretary’s purview, and are addressed in the Uniform Regulations and regulations and/or guidance issued by CBP or other federal agencies.
Section 810.405 Certification
Consistent with the requirements of the Act, and to aid the Department in fulfilling its statutory mandate, this section lists the information submitted by producers to CBP that WHD will review for omissions or errors. The certification information described in this section that WHD will review relates to the high-wage components of the LVC requirements that the Department administers.
Under subsection 810.405(a)(1), WHD will review the certifying vehicle producer’s name, corporate address, Federal Employer Identification Number or alternative unique identification number of the producer’s choosing, such as a Business Number (BN) issued by the Canada Revenue Agency, Registro Federal de Contribuyentes (RFC) number issued by Mexico’s Tax Administration (SAT), Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) number issued by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), or an identification number issued to the person or enterprise by CBP, and a point of contact. This information will provide context for the certification and help streamline the verification process.
Under subsection 810.405(a)(2), WHD will review the vehicle class, model line, or other relevant category the motor vehicles covered by the certification. The producer need not provide a detailed description of the vehicles, but need only provide Start Printed Page 39792sufficient information to enable WHD to distinguish other certifications filed by the same producer. This information will enable WHD to review certifications more efficiently by eliminating potentially duplicative submissions.
Under subsection 810.405(a)(3), WHD will review the time period the producer is using for its LVC calculations. The time period options are taken from Article 7 of the Automotive Appendix, which permits calculating the LVC over any one of the following periods: (1) The previous fiscal year of the producer; (2) the previous calendar year; (3) the quarter or month to date in which the vehicle is produced or exported; (4) the producer’s fiscal year to date in which the vehicle is produced or exported; or (5) the calendar year to date in which the vehicle is produced or exported. The period a producer selects will be the period its LVC certification is valid. See 19 U.S.C. 4532(c)(1)(B)(ii). WHD must know the date range the producer used to perform its calculations in order to ensure that the high-wage components of the certification are properly filed for a given import, and to review the relevant records in the event of a verification.
Under subsection 810.405(a)(4), WHD will review the name, address, and Federal Identification Number or alternative unique identification number of the producer’s choosing, such as a Business Number (BN) issued by the Canada Revenue Agency, Registro Federal de Contribuyentes (RFC) number issued by Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT), Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) number issued by the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), or an identification number used by CBP, for each plant or facility the producer of the covered vehicle is relying on to meet the high-wage material and manufacturing expenditures component of the LVC requirements. WHD will use this information to learn what plants and facilities the producer is relying on to meet the LVC requirements. In addition, this information will streamline the verification process if WHD needs to contact a plant or facility during a verification.
Under subsection 810.405(a)(5), WHD will review the producer’s affirmative statement that the average hourly base wage rate meets or exceeds US$16 per hour for each plant or facility identified in § 810.405(a)(4). Including this information in the certification form will assist WHD in identifying potential errors in the producer’s determination that it may use a particular plant or facility to meet the high-wage components of the LVC requirements, and will streamline the verification process.
If the producer is using high-wage transportation or related costs to meet the high-wage material and manufacturing expenditures component, under § 810.405(a)(6) WHD will review the producer’s affirmative statement that indicates such use, and review the company name and other identifying information for each company the producer used to calculate its high-wage transportation or related costs. This information will allow WHD to identify the transportation companies that the producer is using so that, in the event of a verification, WHD can confirm the companies’ average hourly base wage rates.
If the producer is using the high-wage technology expenditures credit to meet the LVC requirements, under § 810.405(a)(7) WHD will review the producer’s affirmative statement that indicates such use, and the percentage the producer is claiming as a credit towards the total LVC requirement. Documenting the percentage the producer is claiming as a high-wage technology expenditures credit as part of the certification will demonstrate that the producer has performed this calculation as required, ensure that producers recognize that a record of qualifying expenditures must be maintained in connection with this certification, and streamline the verification process.
If the producer is using the high-wage assembly expenditures credit to meet the LVC requirements, under § 810.405(a)(8) WHD will review the producer’s affirmative statement that indicates such use, and the plant name and other identifying information for the assembly plant the producer used to qualify for the high-wage assembly expenditures credit. Under this subsection, WHD will also review the producer’s affirmative statement that the average hourly base wage rate meets or exceeds US$16 per hour for the assembly plant identified in the certification. This information will assist WHD in identifying potential errors or omissions in the producer’s certification and will streamline the verification process.
Subsection 810.405(b) requires a producer of the covered vehicle to ensure that records are kept of information to support its compliance with the high-wage components of the LVC requirements, including the calculations submitted under §§ 810.405(a)(5), (a)(7), and (a)(8)(ii). This subsection is consistent with the implementing statute. See 19 U.S.C. 4532(c)(1)(A)(ii). Such information will generally be in records that producers must ensure are kept under the recordkeeping requirements set forth at § 810.600, and should not be submitted as part of the certification. This subsection further explains that producers are responsible for ensuring that records are provided to the Department upon request, as described in § 810.600(c), but that these records may be physically maintained by a supplier or contractor and that the Department will accept records directly from a supplier or contractor if, for example, the producer has contracted for such an arrangement. As discussed in more detail later in this preamble, the Department may request this supporting information when conducting a verification to determine whether a producer met the high-wage components of the LVC requirements.
Subsection 810.405(c) explains that requirements in subsection 810.405(a) apply to all producers of covered vehicles whether or not they are subject to the alternative staging regime. While the LVC percentage benchmarks change for producers subject to the alternative staging regime period, the high-wage components of the LVC requirements that the Department verifies do not change. Specifically, the US$16 per hour requirement (for high-wage material and manufacturing expenditures and assembly expenditures) and the wage calculation for high-wage technology expenditures are fixed. Accordingly, producers subject, and not subject, to the alternative staging regime will submit, and WHD will review, the same information described in § 810.405. This uniform approach decreases regulatory complexity and will simplify and help expedite the Department’s review of producer certifications.
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