U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its spreadsheet of ACE ESAR A2.2 (Initial Entry Types) programming issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is requesting comments by November 1, 2011, on an existing “Foreign Trade Zone Annual Reconciliation Certification and Record Keeping Requirement” information collection.
On August 31, 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that the U.S. has settled a civil customs lawsuit against an international jewelry company based in Hong Kong, Noble Jewelry, and two of its related corporations, Noble Jewelry Limited and Chad Allison Corporation (collectively Noble Jewelry). Noble Jewelry accepted responsibility for under reporting the value of its imported merchandise and agreed to pay $3.85 million to the U.S. as damages and penalties under the False Claims Act. Using false invoices, the company was able to avoid more than $1 million in customs duties over the course of a decade.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its August 2011 ACE Trade Account Owner Update, which provides new information on upcoming ACE Courtesy Notice of Liquidation reports, a recent Decal/Transponder Online Procurement System (DTOPS) release, and how to handle an issue when running entry summary line detail reports, among other topics.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) user guide document providing step-by-step instructions for brokers and self-filers on creating and maintaining entry banks via the ACE Portal. CSMS Message #11-000208 providing this user guide is available here.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated list of SENTRI enrollment centers. The list contains the address, hours of operation, and contact information for each SENTRI enrollment center.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated list of NEXUS enrollment centers and crossing locations. The list contains the address, hours of operation, and contact information for each NEXUS enrollment center or crossing location.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has updated its list of Free and Secure Trade (FAST) enrollment centers. CBP has also posted an updated list of the U.S./Mexico FAST enrollment centers. The FAST program is CBP’s commercial clearance program for known low-risk shipments entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. It allows for expedited processing for commercial carriers who have completed background checks and fulfill certain eligibility requirements. Participation in FAST requires that every link in the supply chain, from manufacturer to carrier to driver to importer is certified under the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued CSMS Message #11-000205, providing the August 2011 ACE Trade Account Owner Update. In this update, CBP states that for quota entries, the Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS) month should be determined using the date of presentation instead of the release date. CBP also provides information on how importers with or without ACE Portal Accounts can email requests for activation of new Importer of Record Numbers for PMS. The update also states that a new column called "C-TPAT FAST ID" was added to the Decal/Transponder Online Procurement System (DTOPS) Conveyance Lookup screen as part of a recent DTOPS release. See future issue of ITT for detailed summary of the TAO update.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a memorandum announcing that the fifth tranche for the fiscal year 2011 specialty sugar tariff rate quota that opened on August 24, 2011 oversubscribed at opening moment. The pro rata percentage is 88.51943% or 0.8851943.