If the EU and U.S. can agree on an umbrella data protection pact, negotiations on other pacts such as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) may become easier, Elmar Brok, European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, said at a press conference in Brussels Dec. 17. He and Claude Moraes, of the Socialists and Democrats of U.K., who will publish tomorrow the draft report of the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee on U.S. mass surveillance of Europeans, met with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. All three said strong disagreements on data protection remain, but that progress is being made.
Foreign trade zone use has seen an increase among both foreign and domestic sources, according to an updated Congressional Research Service report on FTZs. Some 58 percent, or $429 billion of goods into zones in 2012 were of domestic origin, the report said. That's up from $311 billion in 2010, according to last year's FTZ CRS report (see 12091101). About 42 percent, or $304 billion, of goods came from foreign sources in 2012, up from $223 billion in 2010. "The zone system accounts for 13 percent of all foreign goods entering the United States and employs roughly 370,000 workers, representing about 3 percent of U.S. manufacturing workers in 2012—most but not all FTZ employees are in manufacturing," said the report. The newly released Nov. 12 report, titled “U.S. Foreign-Trade Zones: Background and Issues for Congress,” gives background on free trade zones in general, outlines the U.S. FTZ program, and discusses current FTZ and worldwide zone-related issues for Congress.
Nine defendants charged with smuggling counterfeit goods from China into the U.S. pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for New Jersey, said ICE in a press release. The defendants "ran one of the largest counterfeit goods smuggling and distribution conspiracies ever charged by the U.S. Department of Justice," said ICE. From 2009 to 2012, they "and others conspired to import hundreds of containers of counterfeit goods -- primarily handbags, footwear and perfume -- from China into the United States as part of the conspiracy. These goods, if legitimate, would have had a retail value of more than $300 million."
Problem resolution inquiries related to air cargo at the Centralized Air Cargo Examination Facility (CACEF) in New York should be sent to a new email address as of Dec. 23, CBP New York said in a pipeline. The email address is nwk-aircargopru@cbp.dhs.gov. "Responses to all inquiries will be provided within one hour of receipt of the email," the notice said. The email subject line should indicate whether it relates to trade, agriculture or CACEF and must include Master and House Air Waybills, it said.
CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Dec. 16. This report 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 issued its Dec. 18 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 50), which contains the following two ruling actions:
The CBP Port of San Francisco warned the trade of potential difficulties following the "imminent shutdown of the only remaining fumigation facility in the Oakland area." CBP recently received word of the coming closure from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, it said in an information notice. The operator of the facility has decided to decrease and eventually stop all fumigations at the site, said CBP. "Containerized cargo entering the port containing commodities requiring mandatory fumigation will be adversely affected when the existing fumigation facility begins to scale down and eventually cease operations," said CBP. "As a result, arriving legitimate cargo requiring USDA mitigation (fumigation) may be refused entry and require re-exportation or destruction. "While there is no "firm date" for the closure, CBP and USDA will keep the trade apprised of developments, said CBP.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 9-13 in case they were missed.
The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) will create a "communal platform to map the automotive supply chain" following an agreement with General Motors, Chrysler and Toyota, the group said in a press release. The agreement marks a " first big step toward creating a centralized supplier data platform for greater visibility into the global supply chain," said J. Scot Sharland, AIAG executive director. "Led by these three early adopters, we're launching with a system that puts command and control of the data into the suppliers' hands and is driven by a federal border security initiative."
The U.S. State Department told Federal Maritime Commissioner Will Doyle that China is preparing a "circular to address the issues in the transportation and logistics sector" in response to the application of Chinese Value Added Taxes (VAT) to freight charges, he said in a press release. "According to the State Department, any guidance and clarification provided with respect to the VAT circular would have a retroactive application to August 1, 2013," he said. Freight charges recently said to be subject to a new 6 percent tax after the expansion of China VAT raised red flags at the FMC and among shipping companies (see 13080111).