## Facts

- An importer brought in a high-value ruby-and-diamond ring in 1982 and paid ad valorem customs duties exceeding $220,000.
- The ring was exported shortly after the 1982 importation.
- The importer filed an unused-merchandise drawback claim under 19 U.S.C. § 1313(j) seeking a refund of the 1982 duties.
- Customs denied the 1982 drawback claim because the importer did not timely present the merchandise for Customs inspection as required.
- The same ring was reimported in 1984 under a duty-free entry provision and then exported again in 1984.
- The parties stipulated the ring was exported in 1984 in the same condition as when imported in 1982 and was not used in the United States.
- After the 1984 export, the importer filed a second drawback claim seeking a refund of the duties paid on the 1982 importation.
- Customs denied the second claim, asserting drawback could be claimed only for duty paid on the importation corresponding to the export that generated the drawback claim (here, the duty-free 1984 importation).

## Issues

1. Whether 19 U.S.C. § 1313(j) permits unused-merchandise drawback based on duties paid on an earlier importation when the export giving rise to the claim followed a later duty-free reimportation of the same goods.
2. Whether an exporter can obtain drawback for an earlier denied drawback-eligible transaction by reimporting the same goods duty-free and later exporting them unused.

## Decision

- The Court of International Trade sustained Customs’ denial of the 1984 drawback claim.
- The court held that drawback under § 1313(j) must be tied to the importation that corresponds to the export producing the drawback claim.
- Because the importation immediately preceding the 1984 export was duty-free, there were no duties eligible for refund under § 1313(j) for that claim.
- The court rejected the importer’s attempt to “reach back” to recover duties paid on the separate 1982 import entry.

## Legal Principles

- Unused-merchandise drawback under 19 U.S.C. § 1313(j) is transaction-specific: the refundable duties are those attributable to the import entry linked to the export (or destruction) that supports the drawback claim.
- A later duty-free reimportation breaks the connection to earlier dutiable entries for purposes of a drawback claim based on the later export.
- Meeting the “unused” and “same condition” requirement is necessary but not sufficient; the claimant must also satisfy the statute’s import-export linkage and procedural requirements.
- Drawback is a limited remission of duties conditioned on strict compliance with statutory and regulatory prerequisites; noncompliance in an earlier drawback claim is not cured by later reimportation and export.

## Conclusion

The Court of International Trade held that an exporter who reimported the same merchandise duty-free could not use a later unused export to obtain a refund of duties paid on an earlier, separate importation; the drawback claim was limited to duties associated with the importation corresponding to the export that generated the claim, which in this case was duty-free.


718 Fifth Ave. Corp. v. United States, 741 F. Supp. 1577 (Ct. Int'l Trade 1990)