U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS Message (#12-000036) providing a Spanish version of its January 2012 Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update. The English version of the TAO Update is available here. See ITT's Online Archives 12013149 for summary.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that due to the current snow storm, CBP’s Denver Port Office/trade office located at the World Port Complex, 24735 E. 75th Avenue, Suite 100, Denver, Colorado will be closing on February 3, 2012 at 9 am local time. CBP plans to resume trade operations on Monday, February 6, 2012. Any urgent trade issues please contact the duty supervisor at DIA on 303-961-8882. CSMS #12-000034, dated 02/03/12, available here CSMS #12-000035, dated 02/03/12, available here
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a draft implementation guide for the X12 Status Notification Transaction Set (350) for use in a Rail Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) environment, containing format and data contents information. The transaction set can be used by CBP to supply carriers, terminal operators, port authorities and service providers with cargo release and cargo hold information for import shipments. It can also be used by CBP to provide exporters or their agents, carriers, and service providers with information pertaining to export shipments.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have issued the following news releases related to commercial trade and related issues:
On February 2, 2012, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced the record-breaking results of a nationwide enforcement operation targeting vendors selling counterfeit game-related sportswear throughout the country. The initiative, dubbed Operation Fake Sweep, commenced October 1, 2011 and has seized 42,692 items of phony Super Bowl-related memorabilia, along with other counterfeit items, totaling more than $4.8 million. ICE also seized an additional 22,570 items of counterfeit merchandise and clothing representing other sports leagues, including Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League. Agents also targeted illegal counterfeit imports into the U.S. and seized 307 websites engaged in counterfeiting and piracy online. This represents the 10th phase of "Operation In Our Sites," which has seized a total of 669 domain names since it was launched in June 2010.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Web site as of February 2, 2012, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. These messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov.
This summary report highlights the most active textile and apparel tariff preference levels1 from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “Quota Weekly Commodity Status Report.” It also lists the TRQ commodities on CBP’s weekly “TRQ/TPL Threshold to Fill List.”
In early January 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued instructions for the ten weekly Special Import Quota announcements for Upland Cotton that were issued by the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation. CBP also listed the dates and quantities for each of the ten. CBP has now added weekly Special Quotas 22 and 23 to its list. CBP's January 2012 instructions, with the two new quotas added, are summarized below. (Note that ITT has corrected the month "typos" in the "buy date" column.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated list of the interest rates (updated for the first quarter of 2012) for additional duty payments owed to Customs as a result of reconciliation. CBP notes that when a reconciliation results in additional monies owed CBP, the payment must be made with interest, calculated by the filer using the rates provided in the list. For January 1 - March 31, 2012 the rate is 3%. (See ITT's Online Archives 12011357 for summary of the first quarter 2012 IRS interest rates for over payments and underpayments of customs duties.)
In U.S. Customs and Border Protection's January 2012 Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update, CBP stated that the M1 pilot (e-Manifest: Rail and Sea) was currently underway, with the first Automated Broker Interface (ABI) filer to join the pilot during the week of January 30th. However, CBP sources now state the first ABI filer will join the pilot a week later, during the week of February 6, 2012.