CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:

CBP will soon begin sending more rejects to filers for errors on ACE entries with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, CBP said in a message sent June 2 (here). Since NHTSA began its ACE pilot in August 2015, CBP had been rejecting only about one-third of entries that violated NHTSA business rules, and accepting sending warning messages for the other two-thirds of problematic NHTSA entries, CBP said. NHTSA has now requested that CBP accept and issue warnings for only one-third of entries in violation of its business rules, and reject the other two-thirds. As a result, CBP will begin sending rejects for types of errors that had previously been accepted with a warning message. “For example, vehicle identification number errors and incorrect tire or glazing numbers will continue to be warnings while entries that are missing the required HS-7 declarations will be rejected,” CBP said. The change will be deployed in the ACE certification testing environment on June 13, and the live production environment on June 25, CBP said.

CBP will begin a pilot to test filing in ACE of data required for exports of fish products regulated by the National Marine Fisheries Service, it said (here). The pilot, which will begin “after June 1,” will include fish products subject to NMFS’ Highly Migratory Species Program (tuna and swordfish) and its Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program (fresh and frozen toothfish). Filers will submit required data, such as that required under the current paper Bluefin Tuna Catch Document, Swordfish Statistical Document, Bigeye Statistical Document, and Dissostichus Catch Document, through the Automated Export System, AESDirect and the document imaging system. For approved participants, the test may include all modes of transport at the selected ports, and all commodities regulated under the two NMFS export monitoring programs when exported at one of the selected ports, CBP said. Exporters seeking to participate should contact their client representative or send an email to Steven Zaccaro at steven.j.zaccaro@cbp.dhs.gov with the subject heading “NMFS Export FRN-Request to Participate,” CBP said.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:

CBP released a fact sheet on the recently increased de minimis value threshold (here). Effective since March 10 (see 1603100010), CBP increased the de minimis limit from $200 to $800. "All existing processes and restrictions for merchandise shipments remain the same" as before the value increased, CBP said. "Even in the case of low value shipment, CBP has the right to require a formal entry on any shipment where additional information, bonding, or protection is required," it said. There's been some concern as to how the de minimis increase will affect work for brokers and importers (see 1605160030).

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website May 27, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at http://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.

CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of May 31. This report (here) 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.

Pre-programmed network transceivers and high-speed cabling devices made in China or another "Asian country" are considered of Chinese origin for government procurement purposes, CBP said in a notice (here). "We find that the imported transceivers with a generic program will not be substantially transformed in the U.S." and "that the country where the last substantial transformation occurs is China or other Asian country where the hardware components are manufactured," CBP said. If the transceivers are imported completely non-functional and are programmed in the U.S., the goods are considered of U.S. origin, the agency said. "We find that the non-functional transceivers are substantially transformed as a result of downloading performed in the U.S., with proprietary software developed in the U.S.," CBP said.

CBP recently issued a new withhold release order due to suspicions of goods made by forced labor, said CBP's list of such orders (here). The May 20 order applies to "Stevia and its Derivatives" made by "Inner Mongolia Hengzheng Group Baoanzhao Agricultural and Trade LLC; PureCircle Ltd." The order follows the recent elimination of an exemption to a ban on imported goods made by forced labor (see 1602260049).