U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a memorandum on the 2009 duty-free U.S.-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) tariff preference level for certain non-originating Nicaragua apparel of cotton or man-made fiber (MMF), or subject to cotton or MMF restraints, as provided for in HTS Chapter 99, Subchapter XV, U.S. Note 15. The 2009 Nicaragua TPL was scheduled to open on Friday, January 2, 2009, with a TPL limit of 100,000,000 square meter equivalents (SME).
The following are documents which CBP updates frequently (weekly, monthly, etc.):
CBP has issued its 2008 "year end" tariff rate quota (TRQ) and tariff preference level (TPL) commodity report (as of December 31, 2008). This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, tobacco, certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (2008 commodity report, posted 01/05/09, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/trade_programs/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/yr_end_archived_com_status/cr081231.ctt/cr081231.pdf)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an updated version of its Softwood Lumber Act of 2008 (SLA 2008) frequently asked questions document. The updated version removes three questions and answers; the removed questions are as follows:
The fiscal year 2008 report to Congress on the International Trade Data System has recently been posted to the ITDS Web site. The report addresses the status of ITDS implementation, the extent of participation in ITDS by federal agencies, recommendations for improvements, etc.
CBP has issued a notice on the 2009 Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Supply Chain Security Seminar that will be held on April 1-3, 2009 in New Orleans, LA. The seminar is open to all C-TPAT certified partners. The seminar will be presented in two sessions to accommodate additional registrants. Registration will begin on Monday, January 5, 2009 at 12 noon EST through the C-TPAT Members page. (CBP notice, dated 12/22/08, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/cargo_security/ctpat/supply_chain_seminar.xml.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message stating that December 26, 2008 is considered a CBP holiday, exactly like December 25th, due to an Executive Order. CBP states that any entries previously transmitted with a payment due date of 12/26/08 will appear on a statement on 12/29/08. That means two separate statements may be generated on 12/29/08. Filers who wish to change the payment print date from December 26th to December 29th for previously transmitted summaries may do so at their discretion. CBP noted that entry summaries transmitted to ABI on December 17th would be rejected if a payment due date of 12/26/08 was used; those entries should have a payment due date of 12/29/08. (See ITT's Online Archives or 12/18/08 news, 08121815, for previous BP summary on December 26th being a CBP holiday.) (CSMS 08-000350, dated 12/18/08, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17377&page=&srch_argv=08-000350&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice announcing that it has approved a contingency plan to allow conveyances that normally pay annual land border decal and transponder user fees to be cleared by CBP without a per crossing/arrival payment from January 1-31, 2009.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing that the ABI air in-bond deployment that was previously delayed and tentatively scheduled for January 14, 2009 has been delayed again.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing recent changes to the 2008 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HS Update No. 0806). This update contains 46,415 ABI records and 7,417 harmonized tariff records. Changes include the following: