The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued a final rule, effective April 5, 2007, to implement the Mexican Cement Import Licensing System, which among other things, requires all importers of subject cement from Mexico to obtain an import license from the ITA prior to completing their U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) entry summary documentation.
Washington Trade Daily reports that the Bush Administration expects to formally notify Congress of its intent to sign a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with Panama by the end of March, so that the FTA will be considered under current Trade Promotion Authority. The article adds that the text is currently undergoing the routine review known as the "legal scrub" and the FTA is expected to be signed in May or June. (WTD, dated 03/03/07, www.washingtontradedaily.com)
The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period. The ITA also issues other notices which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance.
The following are documents which CBP updates frequently (weekly, monthly, etc.). Updates are listed under "What's New" on its Web site:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a memorandum stating that it is retracting Textile Book Transmittal (TBT) 07-003 issued in February 7, 2007 concerning Reasonable Care for Accurate Entry Summary Data.
In U.S. v. Optrex America, Inc., the Court of International Trade considered the issue of 1592 negligence and the exercise of reasonable care, and concluded that there were genuine issues of material fact that required further adjudication.
Shippers' NewsWire reports that a Treasury Department source urges importers and their customs brokers to pressure agencies that have been slow to embrace the new government-wide International Trade Data System (ITDS), which is being developed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to provide a single window for trade documentation filing and information sharing, because delays will continue in getting entry clearance for shipments. (Shippers' NewsWire, dated 02/26/07, available at www.americanshipper.com)
Broker Power is able to provide quota prices (generally twice a month) for a limited number of textile and apparel categories from the People's Republic of China (China) that are subject to "agreed quotas" and publicly traded. (These publicly traded quota prices have been provided by a Hong Kong quota broker.)
American Shipper reports that at the Trade Support Network (TSN) meeting and the annual Trade Symposium, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Assistant Commissioner Daniel Baldwin outlined an enforcement philosophy in which the vast majority of cargo is quickly released to the importer, and document checks are conducted in the post-entry environment. According to the article, CBP wants to find alternative ways to verify compliance of duty payments, classification and other documentation issues without holding up shipments at the port of entry. (American Shipper Pub February 2007, www.americanshipper.com)
The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period. The ITA also issues other notices which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance.