U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a press release stating that it and the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. are encouraging international traders to begin moving their import business process to CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment. "Our partnership with the NCBFAA will certainly help expedite the industry's transition to ACE,” said Allen Gina, assistant commissioner for CBP's Office of International Trade. "With the NCBFAA's active involvement, we expect to see ACE transactions increase dramatically."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued the following news releases:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of October 11, 2011.

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.

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.” Note that the fiscal year 2012 commodity TRQs reopened for a new quota period on October 1, 2011.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a final determination that Turkey is the country of origin of certain surgical masks with protective eye shields for purposes of U.S. government procurement. The surgical masks are made in Turkey mostly of Turkey-origin fabric and certain U.S.-origin fabric. They are then imported into the U.S. where a U.S.-made eye shield is permanently attached to the mask, accounting for most of the value of the product.

At the October 4, 2011 COAC meeting, COAC adopted a set of revised recommendations from its Broker Subcommittee on the Role of the Broker project. The final recommendations are largely the same as the draft recommendations that were posted prior to the October 4, 2011 COAC meeting, except they now recommend expanding CBP’s Broker Regulatory Revision Work Group to include other interested parties representing other perspectives and reflect certain revisions to the wording of the recommendations.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued the following news releases:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a Great Idea Form (GIF) entitled "ACT-840-Revision to Cargo Entry Reports for Simplified Process," which was submitted to CBP for review on October 4, 2011. The GIF suggests modifying certain ACE reports for a Simplified Entry process, as well as creating a new report that just includes Simplified Entries.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued CSMS #11-000246, dated October 12, 2011, which is directed toward all non-ESAR (Entry Summary, Accounts and Revenue) ACE report users. According to CBP, ACE Reports will not be updated until 4 pm Eastern time on October 12.