CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Dec. 23. 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.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Dec. 20, 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 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.)
Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Dec. 20. The corresponding downloadable rulings are now available.
CBP issued a CSMS message announcing that in accordance with 19 CFR 142.21(i), it is issuing a "blanket" authorization to allow the release of most types of merchandise on or after Dec. 18 through Dec. 31 under Immediate Delivery (I.D.) procedures. Many entry filers make regular use of I.D. procedures for fresh fruits and vegetables and other merchandise from Mexico and Canada, etc.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Dec. 19, 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 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 showed a sizable decline in employee satisfaction, leaving the agency toward the bottom of the latest ranking of federal agencies by the Partnership for Public Service, a think tank. CBP ranks 277th out of 300 agency subcomponents in employee satisfaction, the report said (here). The Partnership for Public Service said it uses data from the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey to rank agencies and their subcomponents according to a Best Places to Work index score. CBP's index score fell to 45.1 in 2013 from 58.5 in 2012, the survey found. A fellow subagency of the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, was below CBP in employee satisfaction, ranking 291st, the report said (here). DHS ranked last among large agencies, the group said (here).
CBP finalized five new partnerships that will allow for expanded services at domestic ports of entry, the agency said Dec. 19. CBP was authorized to create "a reimbursable fee agreement program to increase CBP’s ability to provide new or enhanced services on a reimbursable basis to support growth in cross-border trade and travel, ”as part of the 2013 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (see 13051329), it said. The partnerships include El Paso, Texas; the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport; South Texas Assets Consortium; Houston Airport System; and Miami-Dade County.
CBP internal discussions on the "need for security and trade investigation into existing means to retrieve entry information in the context of a liquidation" will require a reevaluation of some existing Great Idea Forms (GIF), said a Trade Support Network (TSN) report for October. " It was agreed that the existing method for posting legal notice of liquidation is outdated, but whether it should be posted in ACE or another government hosted website may be determined by financial considerations," it said.
CBP said its Harmonized System Update 1306 was created Dec. 19, containing 75 ABI records and 19 harmonized tariff records. The update, effective Jan. 1, contains modifications mandated by the Committee for the Statistical Annotation of Tariff Schedules. Adjustments required by the verification of the 2013 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are also included, CBP said in a CSMS message. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov.