U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection will extend to the comment period on an existing information gathering regarding Cargo Container and Road Vehicle Certification for Transport under Customs Seal, said a notice in the Federal Register June 15. Comments will be due July 16. CBP proposes the extension of time without change to the burden hours.
Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was last updated 6/13/2012 with 22 rulings, bringing the total number of searchable rulings to 171,555. The most recent ruling is dated 6/1/2012 12:00:00 AM.
The House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees will continue work to finish the miscellaneous tariff bill despite recent controversy over the process and legislation that would make major changes to the process. House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) has said he would work to pass the MTB before the end of the year to prevent the expiration of duty suspensions.
CBP's Office of Information and Technology has posted an updated list of companies/persons offering ABI data processing services to the trade community.
This summary report highlights the most active textile and apparel tariff preference levels from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s June 11 “Quota Weekly Commodity Status Report.” It also lists the TRQ commodities on CBP’s weekly June 11, 2012 “TRQ/TPL Threshold to Fill List.”1
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is seeking comments by Aug, 14 on an existing information collection on user fees. CBP is proposing to extend this information collection with a change to the burden hours or information collected.
Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) introduced legislation June 13 meant to improve the miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB) process and work around conservative objections to the MTB. The Portman-McCaskill bill, the Temporary Duty Suspension Process Act, would "simplify federal processes for America’s manufacturers, while continuing to guard against Congressional earmarks for pork-barrel projects," said a press release.
The House Ways and Means Committee scheduled a hearing on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and granting Russia permanent normal trade relations (PNTR), said Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) The hearing will be June 20 in 1100 Longworth House Office Building. The first panel will consist of Administration witnesses and will begin at 9:30 a.m. The second panel, of private sector witnesses, will begin at 2 p.m., said Camp's office.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted a list of changes to ANSI X12 and UN EDIFACT. Changes include: