International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 21-24 in case they were missed.
The Participating Government Agency (PGA) Message Set Pilot program is now in the "pre-testing" phase and production is not expected to begin until March, beginning with the Newark and Long Beach ports, said Roy Chaudet, who is the Environment Protection Agency's (EPA) lead on the joint pilot with CBP. The pilot was slated to start earlier this month, according to the Federal Register notice (see 13121219).
CBP is extending the comment period to Feb. 2 on the paperwork burden of Commercial Invoice form: OMB No. 1651-0090, it said in a notice. CBP said the provision of a commercial invoice by an importer is necessary for doing adequate examination of merchandise and determination of the duties due on imported merchandise. The information is used to ascertain the proper tariff classification and valuation of imported merchandise. CBP doesn't require a specific form for this information collection: Importers are allowed to use their existing invoices to comply with these regulations. It estimated 38,500 filings at one minute each as a result of the requirement.
CBP is extending the comment period to Feb. 27 for an existing information collection on forms for importer ID import records. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the burden hours.
Yearly transaction value transfer pricing adjustments made by an importer based on a contractual pricing policy should be submitted to CBP using reconciliation, the agency said in a Jan. 7 ruling that reviews an importer's use of such adjustments, among other things. The undisclosed importer requested input from CBP on the acceptability of transaction value and transfer pricing study in 2008. The request was submitted by the importer's lawyer, Damon Pike.
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Sandler Travis added Tom Gould as senior director, customs and international trade, the law firm said in press release. Gould previously ran his own consulting practice in Los Angeles.
Todd Hoffman, previously area port director for Los Angeles/Long Beach, is now acting executive director of cargo and conveyance security at CBP headquarters, according to a recent presentation from CBP put on by Avalon Risk Management and the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America. Hoffman takes the spot from Dan Baldwin, who recently retired (see 14010315). John Landers, previously with the Port of Cincinnati was named director of manifest and conveyance security at CBP headquarters.
The Port of Portland, Ore. updated its CBP Commodity Specialist team information including associated Centers for Excellence and Expertise, CBP said in a Jan. 23 trade bulletin. The update also reflects personnel changes within the team, it said.
The Ports of Philadelphia and Wilmington were closed on Jan. 22, so CBP extended an additional day, without penalty, for any entry summaries and payments of duties due on that day, it said in a CSMS message (here). CBP also said the Ports of Houston/Galveston were closed Jan. 24 and entry summaries and duty payments will be given an extra day (here).