CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of June 16. This report (here) includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, and tobacco; and certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, OFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, OFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying textile articles and/or other articles; the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for June 9-13 in case they were missed.
It's still unclear exactly when the three Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) chosen for accelerated roll-out will begin to handle import processing for their respective industries, said Elena Ryan, who is in charge of the transition to the CEEs at CBP. Those CEEs -- the Pharmaceutical CEE in New York, the Electronics CEE in Los Angeles and the Petroleum CEE in Houston -- will be the first centers to handle post-release processing for entire industries (see 14030613). Despite rumors otherwise, "we do not have a specific date in mind for all of this to happen," she said. Ryan discussed process on the CEEs during the American Conference Institute's Import Compliance and Enforcement forum on June 13.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
The Agricultural Marketing Service advised CBP that the raspberry fee rate for red raspberry juice, including concentrate -- tariff number 2009.89.6055 -- went from $0.1496 per liter to $0.022 per liter, CBP said in a CSMS message. The AMS recently requested that CBP collect a raspberry fee for certain tariff numbers (see 14022516).
CBP is "grappling" with figuring out whether the "proper placement" for Section 337 exclusion order enforcement should remain at headquarters or within the Centers for Excellence and Expertise (CEEs), said Therese Randazzo, CBP director of Intellectual Property Rights Policy and Programs. There's still work to be done before the agency decides if the enforcement could be better handled at the CEEs, though one CEE has already started to handle such enforcement, she said while speaking at the American Conference Institute Import Compliance and Enforcement forum on June 13. "Currently, the enforcement of 337 orders still rests with headquarters, with the exception of enforcement orders that are in the electronics sector," said Randazzo. "The electronics Center for Excellence and Expertise is in fact doing enforcement of those orders, but all the rest are actually in my office." CBP is tasked with stopping imports named in Section 337 exclusion orders, which the International Trade Commission issues when it finds intellectual property rights violations to block imports of infringing products.
The role of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) membership within international trade is growing, not declining, even as other programs emerge, said Lauren Kaufer, director of the C-TPAT program at CBP, during the American Conference Institute's Import Compliance and Enforcement forum on June 13. As an example of C-TPAT's expansion, Kaufer noted CBP is planning to finish up a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) with Israel during a World Customs Organization event at the end of the month and is hoping to finish up another MRA with Mexico by the end of the year. CBP announced work toward a MRA with Israel in 2012 (see 12121007) and with Mexico last year (see 13012215).
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CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of June 9. This report (here) includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, and tobacco; and certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, OFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, OFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying textile articles and/or other articles; the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc.
CBP is working to update the Informed Compliance Publication (ICP) on bona fide sales to list the documents the agency may request in order to validate a “first sale,” said Acting Assistant Commissioner for International Trade Rich DiNucci. The draft revisions have caused somewhat of a “firestorm” recently after the agency sought input from industry leaders on the subject because of the misconception that CBP is working toward a change in policy, he said while speaking June 12 at the Import Compliance and Enforcement forum, hosted by the American Conference Institute. The First Sale rule allows importers, when there are multiple transactions prior to importation into the U.S., to use the price paid in the “first or earlier sale” as the basis for the customs value of the goods rather than the price the importer ultimately paid for the goods.