CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP agricultural specialists will now accept nearly all import documents, including veterinary certificates, in the ACE Document Image System (DIS), regardless of the exporting country’s disease status, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in an April 8 update to its policy on document submissions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency had previously allowed submissions via DIS for only some products, with products from countries recognized by APHIS affected with foreign animal diseases still requiring hard copy submission. But now only shipments of some high risk products, including bovine serum and fresh or frozen meat and poultry where the hard copy veterinary health certificate has not been provided to the Food Safety Inspection Service, are ineligible for electronic submission. The guidance will remain in effect through May 16. “APHIS will continue to evaluate the situation and provide updated guidance as appropriate,” it said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
A group of 31 House lawmakers, led by Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Rep. Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., is asking the U.S. trade representative to delay the switch-over to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement auto rules of origin (ROO), even as the USMCA takes over from NAFTA. The group's letter, sent April 10, said the delay “is necessary to allow the auto industry an appropriate adjustment period and account for delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Alternatively, we ask that you seriously consider other accommodations or flexibilities that will allow the automotive sector to avoid being penalized by the new requirements upon the agreement’s entry into force.”
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Environmental Protection Agency will accept emailed copies of notices of arrival under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act in lieu of paper copies during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said in a notice on its website. Normally, notices of arrival may be submitted via ACE or by signed paper copy mailed to the regional EPA import coordinator, but the agency’s shift to telework during the pandemic means “coordinators will have limited or no ability to receive documents through these channels,” EPA sad. “Therefore, they are accepting them via e-mail. Please contact your regional coordinator for specific instructions.”
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau is postponing due dates for payments of federal excise taxes to help businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s still unclear whether imported products will benefit from the extension. “Effective immediately, all due dates for paying Federal excise taxes to TTB on wine, beer, distilled spirits, tobacco products, cigarette papers and tubes, firearms, and ammunition are postponed 90 days from the due date otherwise prescribed,” TTB said in a guidance posted March 31. But the extension applies only to excise tax payable to TTB, and the guidance directs importers to contact CBP for information about imported products.