Federal Maritime Commissioner Carl Bentzel expects the government to eventually scrutinize certain rail storage fees imposed by ocean carriers on through bills of lading, he said during an industry conference this week. He also said the FMC is “very close” to finalizing its rule on detention and demurrage billing requirements and wants to better address issues involving service contract disputes between carriers and shippers.
An author of Fighting Trade Cheats, a bill that would create a private right of action for customs fraud and hike penalties for both fraud and gross negligence, said a customs modernization package could be a vehicle for his bill to become law.
Conversations have started “weeks ago” between CBP and its partner government agencies regarding a potential government shutdown, said Diane Sabatino, executive assistant commissioner of CBP's Office of Field Operations, during an speech Sept. 12.
The director of CBP's trade modernization office said CBP is packaging up the discussion drafts of what it would like to see in a 21st Century Customs Framework law, and sending them to the Office of Management and Budget so that the OMB can coordinate interagency comments and clearance of the language.
The executive at CBP responsible for the two pilot programs collecting data for Section 321 and Entry Type 86 told an audience of brokers that issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking on required data submissions for de minimis shipments is "of the highest priority at CBP right now." He repeated for emphasis, "The highest priority. From the commissioner down, it has been: 'When are we going to get the NPRM?'"
CBP recently posted a request for information seeking input on its process for selecting accreditors of customs broker continuing education courses, the agency said in a CSMS message Sept. 8. “CBP seeks information from organizations that believe they are able to provide accreditation services as it specifically relates to licensed customs brokers,” the RFI said.
The Supply Chain Agreement, one of the pillars of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, will ask participating countries to work together to:
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., is drafting legislation that could lead to new oversight over certain rail storage charges assessed by ocean common carriers against shippers on through bills of lading. The bill, which hasn't been completed, could require the Federal Maritime Commission and the Surface Transportation Board to “get together” and decide who should regulate those charges, a Garamendi staffer told us.
The Court of International Trade in a Sept. 6 opinion rejected a U.S. motion to dismiss cases from three importers challenging the Commerce Department's denial of their Section 233 steel tariff exclusion requests. The government said the cases should be tossed since they concern entries that already had been finally liquidated, but Judge M. Miller Baker held that it's possible for the court to order liquidation in Administrative Procedure Act cases brought under Section 1581(i), even if liquidation is final.
The Customs Business Fairness Act, a change to bankruptcy law that protects customs brokers, was in effect in 2021, but only as a temporary measure. Its proponents failed to pass a permanent change in 2022. The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America has made a significant advance in the more than 20-year fight to make it so that the money that brokers' clients give them to send to CBP to pay tariffs is not subject to clawback after a bankruptcy filing. The clawback provisions are there so that company insiders don't strip a company of assets through bonuses or other special financial treatment to preferred vendors in the last three months before a filing.