CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
CBP updated its contact information page for the Petroleum, Natural Gas and Minerals Center for Excellence and Expertise (CEE), which opened Sept. 17 in Houston. To initiate an inquiry, email CEE-Petroleum@cbp.dhs.gov or by phone at:(281) 985-6800 Monday through Friday (8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) Central Time. CBP recently provided similar information for other CEEs. The Automotive CEE page is (here). The Pharmaceutical CEE page is (here). The Electronics CEE page is (here).
CBP's planned combination of trusted trade programs, a consolidation of Importer Self Assessment (ISA) and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), would require members of the combined program to meet ISA criteria, said Michael Ginn, director of CBP's C-TPAT Field Office. Ginn spoke on a panel Nov. 27 at the CBP East Coast Trade Symposium. The goal in combining the programs is to create a singular validation and management approach to the trusted trader program, said Dan Baldwin, CBP executive director for Cargo and Conveyance Security, who spoke on the same panel. “We are taking a more reasoned approach on how to validate a company’s compliance level," said Baldwin. "There is every reason to believe a small company is just as responsible and deserving of our trust as the large corporations.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider Dec. 6 the nomination of Mark Barnett, to be a Judge of the United States Court of International Trade.
Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) pushed for strong public health protections as part of the ongoing negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. "As a result of expanded trade with two particular TPP countries, Vietnam and Malaysia, the United States markets could see an influx of imported contaminated seafood," said a press release. Those two countries have an especially poor track record for seafood imported into the U.S., the lawmakers said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
CBP Miami moved the Agriculture Air Cargo Inspections office, it said in an information bulletin Nov. 29. The office moved from Cargo Building 708 to CBP Cargo Clearance Center room 272, it said. The new location will be effective Dec. 3.
CBP's Office of Information and Technology has posted an updated list of companies/persons offering ABI data processing services to the trade community.
CBP granted “snow days” for all entries at the Ports of JFK and New York/Newark for the entire week beginning Oct. 29 and ending Nov. 2 due to Superstorm Sandy, the agency said in a CSMS message. The 'snow days' allow for late entry filing and payments of duties that were due Oct. 29-Nov. 2 without penalties, said CBP.
Port code 1402 (Newport News, VA) is now inactive for CBP transactions, CBP said in a CSMS message. All CBP transactions should be filed using port code 1401 (Norfolk-Newport News, VA), said CBP. This change aligns port operations with 19 CFR 101.3.