In the Aug. 15 issue of the CBP Bulletin (Vol. 46, No. 34), CBP published a notice that proposes to revoke and modify rulings and similar treatment regarding the tariff classification of work footwear.
CBP posted an August 2012 version of its informed compliance publication entitled, "What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: Instruments of International Traffic." CBP said there were no substantive changes made to the revised version.
Brenda Smith will replace Cynthia Allen as head of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Business Office, after Allen leaves for a position at DHL next month, said industry and government officials. Brenda Smith is now the executive director of trade policy and programs in the CBP Office of International Trade. John Leonard, director of textile and apparel policy at CBP, will replace Smith, said CBP.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Aug. 15, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)
CBP Boston updated destruction procedures for small air cargo shipments of perishable agricultural goods arriving at Boston Logan International Airport that were put on “Hold” by a CBP Agriculture Specialist, it said in a public information notice. Email documents@brokerpower.com for a copy of notice.
CBP sent out a CSMS message with new instructions for CBP Form 7501 (Entry Summary). The CSMS message provides a link (here) to what it says are new instructions and are dated July 24. As of press time, the link provided went to instructions dated June 8. Email documents@brokerpower.com for the modified instructions released Aug. 15 and dated July 24.
The Seattle port became the newest addition to the Simplified Entry (SE) pilot program, receiving its first SE on Aug. 14, CBP said Aug. 15. CBP recently announced its plans to expand the pilot to other ports and participants and to revise applicant criteria. CBP said the "expansion to the ports of San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles will follow soon thereafter. A subsequent expansion to the south and southeast, including Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and Miami, will happen in mid-September, to be quickly followed by an expansion to the northeast including Newark, New York/JFK and Boston."
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
The federal government, in the form of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has begun acting on alleged copyright infringers at the behest of copyright owners in the recent past, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in response to the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator's (IPEC) request for comment on the administration's IP enforcement strategy. "The records suggest that [ICE] and its attorneys are effectively acting as the hired gun of the content industry at the taxpayers' expense," the letter said. "Instead of relying on rightsholders to determine whether a seizure was appropriate, the government should have been conducting its own thorough investigation."