The Commerce Department will delay a requirement for aluminum import licenses under its new Aluminum Import Monitoring System until June 28, CBP said in a CSMS message sent March 29. “At the request of the Department of Commerce the [Aluminum Import Monitoring] license requirement has been delayed until June 28, 2021,” CBP said. “We have updated ACE to remove the LPC requirement.”
Sewing thread made from polyester textured yarn is still subject to antidumping and countervailing duty orders on polyester textured yarn from India and China (A-533-885/C-533-886, A-570-097/C-570-098), the Commerce Department said in a March 22 scope ruling. The importer of the thread, American & Efird, had argued sewing thread is not subject to the AD/CVD orders, but Commerce found the duties cover polyester textured yarn in “all forms.”
CBP is embarking “in earnest” on a process to develop a legislative package on a scale not seen since the Customs Modernization Act of 1993, said John Leonard, CBP executive director-trade policy and programs, at the March 17 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee. Coming out of the agency’s work on the 21st Century Customs Framework (see 2011120010), the effort will begin with a new task force to provide a transparent “vehicle” to work with the trade community on the details of the legislation.
The International Trade Commission released the 2021 Basic Edition of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule March 15. The new edition, which follows three “preliminary” updates issued earlier this year, implements the recently announced four-month pause on Section 301 tariffs on goods from the United Kingdom, effective March 4 (see 2103040043). It also adds a new provision on the USMCA tariff-rate quota for sugar-containing products from Canada. The four-month suspension of Section 301 tariffs on all European Union goods, which took effect March 11 (see 2103120047), is not implemented in this edition.
All cedar shakes and shingles are exempt from antidumping and countervailing duties on softwood lumber from Canada (A-122-857/C-122-858), not just certain categories, the Commerce Department said in a March 12 scope ruling. Despite circumvention concerns from domestic lumber producers, Commerce found no justification to apply the court-ordered exemption to some high-grade cedar shakes and shingles but not to lower grade products.
CBP will allow importers to continue to use Part 102 NAFTA marking rules for goods imported from Canada and Mexico, even though they are no longer a requirement for USMCA preferences, said James Kim, a lawyer with CBP’s Office of Regulations and Rulings currently working at the agency’s USMCA center, during a Zoom call following a panel discussion March 9.
FDA’s proposed rule on traceability requirements for high-risk foods needs some reworking to “reflect the unique characteristics of the import supply chain,” the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in Feb. 22 comments to the agency. As proposed, the requirements do not account for complex import supply chains, and changes are also necessary to account for the roles of parties within that supply chain to better reflect the import process, the NCBFAA said.
Automotive window parts imported by WKW Erbsloeh North America are subject to antidumping and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China (A-570-967/C-570-968), the Commerce Department said in a recent scope ruling. While rubber window seals and rolled aluminum window trim are not aluminum extrusions and aren’t covered by the orders, other window components containing extruded aluminum are covered because they are components of a finished car, rather than “finished merchandise” on their own, Commerce said.
Blueberries will escape Section 201 safeguards, after the International Trade Commission on Feb. 11 voted that the domestic blueberry industry isn’t injured by a flood of imports. As a result of the ITC’s negative injury finding, the commission’s investigation will end, and it will not recommend any import restrictions to the president.
CBP will focus on getting through a backlog of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism revalidations that it had been originally scheduled to perform in 2020 as it lays out its work plan for validations in 2021, said Manual Garza, CTPAT director at CBP’s Office of Field Operations, on a call with members of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America on Feb. 3.