World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo met with World Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya to discuss collaboration toward implementing the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (ATF), said the WCO in a press release. The WTO reached a deal on the trade facilitation agreement in December (see 13120922). The WCO plans to publish "an implementation tool to connect each provision of the ATF to WCO tools as well as a briefing document enabling Customs administrations to communicate with trade ministries," the release said. Mikuriya also emphasized the "complementary nature between the ATF and the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC)." Azevedo "expressed his willingness to leverage WCO expertise and experts for the WTO Preparatory Committee on Trade Facilitation," said the WCO.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued a final rule amending its regulations to allow it to revoke or suspend operating authority registration of motor carriers that have shown a pattern of safety violations, it said in a notice. The rule, effective Feb. 21, gives the FMCSA the ability to address "for-hire motor carriers that show egregious disregard for safety compliance, permit persons who have shown egregious disregard for safety compliance to exercise controlling influence over their operations, or operate multiple entities under common control to conceal noncompliance with safety regulations," it said. The final rule includes some changes to reduce confusion and reorganize the regulations as a result of comments received, it said.
New lobbyist registrations on trade-related issues include:
CBP's recent Harmonized System Updates 1401 and 1402 includes the harmonized tariff schedule flags for the Environmental Protection Agency and Food Safety and Inspection Services, the two agencies participating in the Participating Government Agency Message Set pilot, said CBP. The "edits are in place to help ensure that only pilot participants file the new PGA data," said CBP in a CSMS message. "If you are not an official pilot participant, please do not submit PGA data via the new PGA Message Set." CBP opened the pilot in December (see 13121219).
Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Dec. 20. The corresponding downloadable rulings are now available.
An increase in CBP's trade processing and the additions of six new Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs) were among trade issues highlighted by the agency in it's "2013 Fiscal Year in Review." CBP processed more than $2.3 trillion in trade, "while enforcing U.S. trade laws that protect the economy, health and safety of the American public," it said. CBP also processed "nearly 25 million cargo containers through the nation's ports of entry, up 1 percent from last year." and "conducted more than 24,000 seizures of goods that violated intellectual property rights, with a total retail value of $1.7 billion, representing a 38 percent increase in value from FY 2012."
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CBP said its Harmonized System Update 1402 was created Jan. 16, containing 10,199 ABI records and 1,819 harmonized tariff records. Adjustments required by the verification of the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) were made, "including corrections to cotton assessments and the addition of PGA (PARTICIPATING GOVERNMENT AGENCY) indicators that are subject to the PGA message set," CBP said in a CSMS message. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov.