COAC Recommendations Include Regulatory Requirement for Broker Reporting of Possible AD/CV Evasion
CBP posted its agenda (here) and some other agency documents for the upcoming Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting on July 27 in Boston. Among the posted items are recommendations for coming antidumping/countervailing duties evasions enforcement regulations from the COAC AD/CVD Working Group (here). That working group will recommend new CBP rules requiring customs brokers to report possible AD/CVD evasion, among other things, it said. The new enforcement regulations are a result of the customs reauthorization law's AD/CVD provisions, known as the ENFORCE Act, that take effect Aug. 22 (see 1602230080).
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CBP should "consider adding a regulatory provision to enable and require customs brokers to report evidence and/or incidents of evasion as defined by the ENFORCE Act when it comes to their attention," the working group said. "This regulatory provision would also protect brokers from liability as a result of reporting evasion under the ENFORCE Act as well as reporting any suspicious activity of trade violations under the existing eAllegations tool on CBP.gov." There also should be a potential penalty for submitting false claims to CBP, it said. The full COAC will vote at the July 27 meeting on whether to submit the recommendations to CBP. The agency plans to issue an interim final rule on the AD/CVD regulations as well as request public input for a permanent final rule (see 1605190030). CBP was not "able to provide any regulations or standard operating procedures for the COAC to review," the working group said.
CBP's regulations should also provide for "transparency for all parties to an ENFORCE proceeding and put procedures in place as fully allowed by ENFORCE statute that mitigate the risk of unwarranted damage to the reputation of innocent parties who have acted properly under the law," the COAC group said. Additionally, "COAC recommends that CBP consider using the new data elements they will collect under the New 5106 regulations, importer contact name and email address, to make new importers aware of the compliance requirements and risks associated with merchandise subject to AD/CVD." CBP is working toward a new Form 5106 that includes several new data fields for the importer of record (IOR) (see 1607130026).
The Bond Working Group called on CBP to revise bonding requirements for AD/CVD cash deposits posted at entry during a Commerce Department administrative review. "COAC recommends that CBP consider more robust bonding requirements, such as CBP’s current policy to require [single transaction bonds] where AD/CVD evasion is suspected," it said. "To date, this policy has been effective for garlic and other high-risk or volatile AD/CVD cases."
The Intellectual Property Rights Working Group said it decided further discussion is needed for a Known Importer IPR program after several electronics trade groups objected to a potential CBP pilot program and voted against a recommendation going forward (see 1606280048). "After extensive exploration and discussion, the COAC recommends that the Known Importer Program initiative cannot be managed uniformly by all trade associations to pilot and/or implement the program at such time," it said. "As a result, the COAC recommends that the IPRWG continue to consider other approaches to developing a known IPR supply chain program." CBP posted the below documents:
Trusted Trader
- Trusted Trader Program Subcommittee Executive Summary (here)
Trade Enforcement and Revenue​
- COAC Trade Enforcement and Revenue Collection Subcommittee Draft Recommendations (here)
- COAC Trade Enforcement and Revenue Collection Subcommittee Executive Summary (here)
- CBP Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Division Issue Paper (here)
- CBP Prohibition of Importation of Forced Labor-Produced Goods Issue Paper (here)
- CBP AD/CVD Issue Paper (here)
One U.S. Government at the Border
- COAC 1USG Trade Progress Report Executive Summary (here)
- CBP Border Interagency Executive Council (BIEC) ITDS PGA Pilot Status Issue Paper (here)
- CBP ACE/Single Window Issue Paper (here)
Export
- COAC Exports Subcommittee Executive Summary (here)
- CBP AES Post-Departure Filing Issue Paper (here)
- CBP Electronic Export Manifest Pilots Issue Paper (here)
Global Supply Chain