CBP has recently dealt with some non-compliance with immigration laws by Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) members, the agency said in a bulletin dated Jan. 31. "In some recent validations, instances have been identified where partners are not in compliance with U.S. immigration law," the bulletin said. Members may have benefits suspended or removed for such issues, it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 27-31 in case they were missed.
CBP is developing some new guidance for Importer Security Filing (ISF) enforcement efforts, said Craig Clark, who manages the ISF program at CBP. "There will be some guidance moving forward with an" enforcement strategy "that is a little bit more enhanced than the initial guidance that was given out," he said in an interview. Clark declined to go into specifics because the guidance is still in the "conceptual" phase, but said he expects information to be released over the next couple weeks.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is preparing to "underwrite" an advertisement in opposition to Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and is seeking national organizations to sign on to the effort, according to an email circulated by CWA. Under TPA, commonly called Fast Track, Congress agrees to suspend normal legislative procedure for trade bills, offering no amendments, limiting debate and making a simple up-or-down vote. "Fast track has had a difficult month because of the great work done by a broad range of groups" and "now it’s time to do more," said Kenneth Peres, CWA chief economist, in the email. The ad would "reflect the breadth of opposition to Fast Track."
CBP is extending the comment period to March 6 on an extension of an existing collection of information via CBP Form 6059B, Customs Declaration, which is used as a standard report of the identity and residence of each person arriving in the U.S., and to declare imported articles to CBP. CBP estimated the paperwork burden at 105,606,000 responses, taking 4 minutes each.
The Jan. 29 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 48, No. 4), CBP published two notices of revocation of rulings and treatment regarding hole saw kits and Aquadoodle products.
The Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) for CBP will next meet Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. in Washington, CBP said in a notice.
CBP is now updating its Focused Assessment (FA) program in order to align it with current government auditing standards, the agency said in its quarterly newsletter for the trade. The agency will also update FA to "allow greater flexibility in designing audit approaches tailored to the unique circumstances of each importer’s environment and relevant risks," it said. The agency "expects to implement the updated program in early fiscal year 2015" and will provide more information over the coming year, it said.
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President Barack Obama nominated William Doyle to serve on the Federal Maritime commission for another term, the White House said.