The China Law Society opened its 9th congress in Beijing on Friday.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a letter to the event, urging law societies to play a better role as bridges.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, called on law societies to break new ground in their operations.
Chen Wenqing, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, spoke at the opening of the congress.
He hoped that legal professionals will do a solid work in ensuring sound legislation, strict law enforcement, impartial justice administration and public law compliance, and make contributions to advancing Chinese modernization.
Wang Chen, director of the China Law Society, chaired the meeting and delivered a work report.
The meeting also awarded exemplary groups and individuals in the law society system nationwide.
China Law Society opens 9th congress in Beijing
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Monday launched the first phase of a new claims system that will allow importers to seek repayment of tariffs collected under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
Companies and their customs brokers can submit refund requests through CBP's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) portal using a newly developed tool known as the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries, or CAPE, starting Monday.
Once a claim is validated, CBP will recalculate the duties without the IEEPA tariffs and reliquidate the entries, triggering repayment. The refunds will be paid directly to the businesses that originally paid the tariffs, local media reported Monday.
Valid refunds will generally be issued within 60 to 90 days after a claim is accepted, CBP said, though more complex cases could take longer.
CBP is rolling out the refund process in phases. Court filings show that more than 330,000 importers paid duties on over 53 million shipments, totaling roughly 166 billion U.S. dollars.
The Supreme Court ruled in February that U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs under IEEPA are unconstitutional. It is Congress, not the president, that holds authority over such taxes.
Following the ruling, a judge at the U.S. Court of International Trade directed CBP to remove the tariffs from affected entries and refund any excess duties collected, along with interest.
U.S. gov't begins refunding tariffs to businesses
