On April 10, 2008, the Senate amended and passed H.R. 3221, New Direction for Energy Independence, National Security, and Consumer Protection Act and the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act. The House passed its version of H.R. 3221 on August 4, 2007. (Congressional Record, dated 04/10/08, available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r110:@FIELD(FLD003d)@FIELD(DDATE20080410).
At the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America's Annual Conference, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Basham stated that he expects CBP to publish a final rule in Summer 2008 to require Security Filing (SF) information from importers and additional information from carriers (10+2) for vessel (maritime) cargo before it is brought into the U.S.
The Treasury Department has published its current list of countries that require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott. The countries included on this list are:
The Los Angeles Times reports that Mexico's government is preparing to open bidding on the largest infrastructure project in its history, a $4-billion seaport on Mexico's Baja peninsula, that would link the Pacific Ocean to the U.S. heartland. Vessels bearing shipping containers from Asia would offload them at the new port where they would be taken over newly constructed rail lines to the U.S. (Los Angeles Times, dated 03/25/08, available at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mexport25mar25,1,5870690.story)
Although U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the General Administration of China Customs recently began their C-TPAT validation pilot program with three volunteer C-TPAT importers in mid-March, CBP sources state that the validation visits have already occurred. The next step is for a validation report to be prepared which contains recommendations to address any supply chain security weaknesses. (See ITT's Online Archives or 03/26/08 news, 08032605, for earlier BP summary on this pilot.)
The Government Accountability Office released its report entitled, "Intellectual Property: Federal Enforcement Has Generally Increased, but Assessing Performance Could Strengthen Law Enforcement Efforts." (GAO report, GAO-08-157, dated March 2008, available at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08157.pdf.)
Reminder: ECCNs for Certain License Exception Codes Must be Reported in AES Effective April 28, 2008
The Census Bureau has again issued an Automated Export System broadcast informing the trade community of upcoming changes to the Bureau of Industry and Security License Exceptions reporting requirements in AES.
The National Retail Federation has issued a press release urging the Port of Oakland to reject a proposal to impose huge new container fees similar to those approved recently in Los Angeles and Long Beach, and instead adopt a plan to ease air pollution and congestion that is supported by shippers. (NRF press release, dated 03/11/08, available at http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=491)
The Bureau of Industry and Security is seeking public comments by June 17, 2008 on whether the scope of items currently subject to the crime control export and reexport license requirements contained in the Export Administration Regulations and the destinations to which these license requirements apply, should be revised.
At the March 11, 2008 meeting of the Bureau of Industry and Security's Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee, Census officials characterized as "imminent" the publication of a final rule to amend the Foreign Trade Statistics Regulations in order to, among other things, require mandatory filing of export information through the Automated Export System for all shipments where a Shipper's Export Declaration is currently required.