Due to scheduled maintenance, FDA's Import Trade Auxiliary Communication System (ITACS) users may experience intermittent outages on Jan. 4-5, said CBP in a CSMS message. Users who encounter problems with ITACS during this period should re-attempt their activity in 30 minutes.
CBP issued a CSMS message reminding the trade of the recently published final rule that increased the limit for informal entries from $2,000 to $2,500. The increase takes effect Jan. 7 and applies to goods entered or released (including goods released under special privileges for immediate delivery under 19 U.S.C. 1448(b)) on or after Jan. 7.
CBP released its Jan. 2 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 2). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does include recent general notices and Court of International Trade decisions.
CBP released its Dec. 26 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 1). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does include recent general notices and Court of International Trade decisions.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its fall 2012 regulatory agenda for CBP, which lists one new trade-related rulemaking. The agenda will eventually run in the Federal Register, though it's unclear when. While there's only one new trade-related rulemaking on the DHS' fall 2012 agenda, several were removed since the previous DHS regulatory agenda.
The bill passed by Congress New Year's day to avert the fiscal cliff included a nine-month extension to the "authorities provided by each provision of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008," also known as the "Farm Bill." President Obama signed the bill Jan. 2.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
CBP issued a memorandum announcing that the 12-month valued-added tariff preference level for certain apparel eligible to receive duty-free treatment under Haiti HOPE opened December 20, 2012 for the December 20, 2012 - December 19, 2013 period. The TPL limit is 306,742,329 SME. (QBT-12-541, dated 12/28/12)
Several high-ranking CBP officials are slated to speak at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Government conference in Las Vegas Jan. 7-9. CBP speakers include Acting Chief Operating Officer Thomas Winkowski; Chief Information Officer Charles Armstrong, Todd Owen, director of field operation at the Los Angeles Field Office; and Maria Luisa O'Connell, senior advisor to the Commissioner. Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Transportation Security Administration will also speak.
CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Dec. 31. 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.