U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced that updates will be made to the CAMIR and ANSI X12 sea and rail interface guidelines that will set the stage for announcing an enforcement date to require residue (such as chemicals or other bulk goods) imported in containers considered to be instruments of international traffic (IIT) to be manifested, classified, and entered. CBP has delayed setting an enforcement date for this requirement since May 2011 pending the ability for Section 321 entries to be electronically filed in the rail mode.
The International Trade Administration has issued a countervailing duty order on multilayered wood flooring from China (C-570-971). The order reflects a "gap period" of August 4 - December 6, 2011 of no CV duty liabilty due to the expiration of the provisional measures period. This order is effective December 7, 2011, and is expected to be implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection soon.
Trade Support Network (TSN) Committee members are expected to meet on December 7, 2011 to discuss a number of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) topics, including ongoing issues with Post Summary Correction (PSC), such as its functionality in the ACE Portal, the visibility of data elements for original entry summary filers, and the possibility of using the PSC framework to transition ACS drawback to ACE.
In May 2011, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative updated its guidebook on the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences to facilitate public understanding of the GSP program. Among other topics, the guidebook provides information on articles eligible for duty-free treatment, articles prohibited from receiving such treatment, Competitive Need Limitations, and reimbursement for tariffs after retroactive renewal of the program.
The International Trade Administration is revoking the antidumping duty order on stainless steel plate in coils from Korea (A-580-831) due to its determination under Section 129 of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act regarding “zeroing” (disregarding non-dumped sales transactions in the margin calculation). The revocation is effective November 16, 2011 and is expected to be implemented by U.S. Customs and Border Protection soon.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is providing advanced notice of 24 country/tariff number pairs that may exceed the 2011 Competitive Need Limitations (CNLs) under the Generalized System of Preferences program and could possibly lose their GSP eligibility on July 1, 2012.
On November 29, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued its November 2011 ACE Trade Account Owner (TAO) Update. The TAO provides information on a number of ACE and general trade developments, including the AM-100 report for importers (which replaced the mailed courtesy notices of liquidation), Post Summary Corrections, FMCSA status messages to ACE Truck e-Manifest filers, FAST cards, and Simplified Entry.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has issued a notice to inform the public of the availability of import statistics for the first nine months of 2011 relating to competitive need limitations (CNLs) under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program. These import statistics identify some country and tariff pairs for which the 2011 trade levels may exceed statutory CNLs. Interested parties may find this information useful in deciding whether to submit a petition to waive the CNLs for individual beneficiary developing countries (BDC) with respect to specific GSP-eligible articles.
Chinese producer Peer Bearing Company - Changshan and The Timken Company, a domestic producer, challenged the final determination of the International Trade Administration in the June 2007 - May 2008 AD duty administrative review of ball bearings and parts thereof from China. Peer contested the ITA’s method of calculating duty assessments, its decision that bearings further manufactured in Thailand were still Chinese, and its valuation of steel bar inputs; Timken objected to a too-low value for steel wire rod inputs.
During their November 2011 meeting in Hawaii, leaders of the 21 member economies1 of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation agreed to several customs and trade-related measures, including setting a de minimis value duty exemption, cutting duties on certain green products by 2015, endorsing mutual recognition of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programs, etc.