U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Port of Miami have recently seized a shipment of counterfeit designer handbags with a total retail value of nearly $1.2 million. The case began when CBP officers from the Miami Field Office examined samples of a shipment of more than 1,600 handbags for possible infringement of intellectual property rights (IPR). The commodity team determined that the handbags were counterfeit and infringed upon the copyrights held by companies such as Chloe, Louis Vuitton, Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana.
International Trade Commission sources have provided a document listing the statistical changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule that took effect July 1, 2011 for certain berries, sugar, fruit juices, plastic bags, lined paper, steel bars, and lamp posts and their bases.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message and Fact Sheet stating that CBP expects to begin deploying M1's new capabilities to allow rail and sea carriers to transmit electronic manifest data to ACE in late summer 2011. To be able to access the new capabilities, ocean and rail carriers need to apply for their free ACE Portal Account now, and not wait until the last minute.
CBP has issued the following news releases:
CBP has posted an updated version of its TRQ/TPL "threshold to fill" list, a quick reference to monitor TRQs and TPLs that are approaching their restraint limit or have filled their in-quota (low) rate. The list is divided into two sections: those that are at least 85% filled and those that are filled.
On July 18, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that officers at the San Luis II Commercial Port prevented a large narcotics smuggling attempt by seizing more than 387 pounds of cocaine hidden in a tractor trailer. A Mexican man from Mexico attempted to enter the U.S. through a San Luis Commercial Port truck lane and was referred for a secondary inspection. CBP officers observed an anomaly during an X-ray scan, then a narcotics detection canine was alerted to the trailer, which lead to the discovery of 154 packages of cocaine.
On July 18, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that officers at the Otay Mesa cargo facility discovered 1,420 pounds of marijuana in boxes of serrano chili peppers. A Mexican citizen had entered the cargo port driving a tractor trailer with cargo manifested as chili peppers. After referring the conveyance for an intensive examination, officers ran the tractor trailer through the port’s x-ray imaging system that showed anomalies. Officers then unloaded the shipment and discovered the contraband.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted to CBP's Web site, along with the case number(s), period covered, and CBP message number, is provided below. these messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov.
CBP has posted an updated version of its CF 1400 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Entrances) - an electronic query report for CF 1400 of the Vessel Management System (VMS), in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by entrances. CBP has also posted an updated CF 1401 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Clearances) - an electronic query report for CF 1401 of the VMS, in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by clearances.
CBP has posted an updated version of its Public Automated Commercial System FIRMS (Facilities Information and Resources Management Systems) report that is organized by port code and alphabetically by company name.