Satellite companies and manufacturers supported the Obama Administration's draft proposals to update the satellite export control regime in comments to the Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The proposals address the transfer of satellite systems and their components from the U.S. munitions list (USML) to the Commerce Control List (CCL). Items controlled under the USML are critical to national security, while the CCL is less restrictive and includes items that are less critical. Comments were due and posted this week (see 13071122). SES, Intelsat, Boeing and other companies approved of the proposals but asked for clarifications to export control classification numbers (ECCN) that identify items.
CBP is extending the comment period to Aug. 5, on the extension of an existing information collection, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Certificate of Origin. There are no changes to the information collected.
CBP has finished some of the initial work that will allow for entry summary quality control checks, known as edits, within the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), said CBP in its June "ACEopedia." CBP started with Harbor Maintenance Fee (HMF) validations to lay a foundation for additional validations and "developed a business rules engine that enables development teams to more easily capture, update, and maintain the business rules that govern how the validations work within the system," it said. "As development progresses and CBP gains more experience with Agile development, increasingly complex validations will be added. The second development Increment is focused on coding validations related to Classification. CBP plans to deploy Increments 1 and 2 in October 2013."
CBP New York/Newark released information in a pipeline notice showing the "cycle time measurement" of Centralized Examination Stations from April through June this year. The cycle times refer to the time from ocean container arrivals through final examination completion.
In the July 3 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 28), CBP published a notices that proposes to revoke rulings and similar treatment regarding the tariff classification of Aquadoodle draw and doodle mats.
Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated July 10 with 124 rulings, bringing the total number of searchable rulings to 178,041. The most recent ruling is dated 07/09/2013.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is leaving the government to work as president of the University of California, she said in a statement. She will leave in early September, according to an administration official. The agency didn't say if anyone had been chosen as a replacement.
CBP's Los Angeles/Long Beach field office will make use of cargo holds in the Automated Cargo Environment (ACE) to address non-compliance with Importer Security Filing (ISF) requirements, the office said in a July 12 public bulletin. Use of the holds will begin July 15 and CBP "will hold all non-compliant ISF shipments at the terminal until the required ISF is filed, it said. CBP recently announced plans to ratchet up enforcement of ISF rules (see 13062613).
The Federal Maritime Commission scheduled a July 17 meeting at 10 a.m. in Washington, D.C. Agenda items include: (1) Briefing on Committee on Maritime Transportation System, (2) Staff Briefing and Discussion of Inflation Adjustment of Civil Penalties, (3) Staff Briefing on Service Contracts that Reference Freight Indices. A closed session includes: (1) Staff Briefing on Economic and Trade Conditions and (2) Staff Briefing on Semi-Annual Meeting with Transpacific Stabilization Agreement Representatives.
CBP is requesting comments by Aug. 12 for an existing information collection for the Trusted Traveler Programs. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with a change to the burden hours.