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The Duty Drawback Specialists

C.J. Holt, & Co., Inc. (C.J. Holt) is revolutionary among drawback specialists due to the leadership role of its personnel in updating the drawback law with the revision and improvement of The Customs Modernization Act. In 1992, our staff introduced Customs to the concept of “unused merchandise” drawback as a replacement for “same condition merchandise” drawback. This innovative concept was included in the Customs Modernization Act. In addition, most of the wording changes in the drawback section of the Customs Modernization Act were written exclusively by our management or in collaboration with Customs. Through C.J. Holt's direct initiative, the drawback portion of the Customs Modernization Act was introduced in the House of Representatives.

C.J. Holt is well-respected by Customs for its professional, conscientious and collaborative efforts to cooperate with them on the national level in Washington D.C. and the port level in New York/Newark. The firm's relationship with Customs on the national level has been increasingly interactive in recent years.

In addition to the excellent working relationship between our management and the legal team at Customs Headquarters, we are also politically active as follows:

• We were the only drawback specialists to appear in person before the Trade Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, U.S. House of Representatives. C. J. Holt & Co.’s Corporate Secretary, David N. Simcox, testified before this group to encourage their support for the duty drawback provisions of the Customs Modernization Act.


• C.J. Holt’s President, Edwin W. Van Ek, submitted written testimony to the Senate Committee on Finance concerning the Customs modernization portion of the Trade Expansion Act.


• Much of the language in the drawback section of the Act was written by William A. Hagedorn who served on a committee charged with the task of drafting this bill.


• Both William A. Hagedorn and Edwin W. Van Ek met with former Customs Commissioner George Weise when he was staff director of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Trade to negotiate details of the drawback portion of the Customs Modernization legislation.


• We introduced drawback legislation in the Miscellaneous Trade Act of 2004 and are currently involved in introducing several new bills concerning drawback and are playing an integral role in assessing the position of drawback in all Free Trade Agreements.

On the local level, C.J. Holt files almost all completed claims with Customs in New York/Newark which is the largest Drawback Center in the U.S. We have an excellent relationship with the Drawback Specialists and Supervisory Drawback Specialists at that location. The firm also works closely with the Drawback Branch Chief located in the New York/Newark Region who also acts as Customs National Drawback Coordinator. She has met with our staff several times to approve claiming procedures and/or to discuss duty drawback policy.