The Treasury Department recently published its fall 2013 regulatory agenda for CBP, which lists three new items in the works, including amendments to CBP regulations that would add new notice requirements and appeal procedures for when CBP suspends or revokes an entry filer code or discontinues the ability to use immediate delivery and remote location filing (RLF) programs. The potential changes, proposed in February (see 13022521), are a major concern for the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, which has said it would likely seek legal action if CBP were to try and revoke an entry filer code (see 13043021).
CBP was scheduled to deploy its second piece of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) under its new "agile" development program on Jan. 4, it said in a fact sheet on its site. The implementation will allow for an expansion of the Simplified Entry pilot. CBP didn't comment.
In the Jan. 2 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 52), CBP published two notices that propose to revoke rulings and similar treatment for the tariff classification of placemat and coaster sets and power distribution units.
CBP completed 2,111 total Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) validations, including 569 initial validations and 1,542 revalidations for 2013 as of Jan. 2, it said in an update on program statistics. Validations continue to be down compared to previous years. There has also been a total of 1,768 suspensions and 1,280 C-TPAT removals.
CBP reminded importers of a change to General Statistical (GSN) Note 3(c) within the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule in a CSMS message. GSN 3(c) was updated in the 2014 HTS to indicate that goods imported under the Civil Aircraft Agreement, Pharmaceutical Agreement and Intermediate Chemicals for Dyes Agreement (SPI “C,” “K,” and “L,” respectively) that are the product of a country with which the U.S. has a free trade agreement (FTA) that provides the MPF exemption can be imported free of merchandise processing fee (MPF) using SPI C#, K#, and L#, even if the FTA’s more stringent origination rules and imported directly rules are not met, the agency said. This applies to all FTAs that provide the MPF exemption (NAFTA, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Israel, Bahrain, Oman, CAFTA, Peru, Korea, Colombia and Panama), it said. The International Trade Commission recently published the new HTS, with most changes taking effect Jan. 1 (see 14010221).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its fall 2013 regulatory agenda for CBP, which lists no new trade-related rulemakings. A Jan. 7 Federal Register noticementions two CBP agenda items "likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.” Those items are a final rules on Importer Security Filing (ISF) and a Guam visa waiver program (here).
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Maureen Thorson, an international trade lawyer and licensed customs broker at Wiley Rein, was promoted from of counsel to partner, the firm said in a press release.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration scheduled a public meeting for the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC) Motor Vehicles Working Group for Jan. 14 in Detroit., the agency said. The meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. at Patrick McNamara Federal Building in Detroit, it said. The group will continue work on the RCC joint action plan, the notice said.
In the Jan. 2 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 52), CBP published two notices that propose to revoke rulings and similar treatment for the tariff classification of ballistic jacket plates and thermal transfer ribbons.