CBP issued its July 3 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 28), which contains notices of the following ruling actions:
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Test takers sitting for the October customs broker license exam will have an additional half hour to complete the exam, said CBP in a notice announcing the date of the exam. The October exam, scheduled for Oct. 7, will allow four and a half hours for completion, the notice said. At least since the April 1998 exam -- the earliest exam CBP makes available that includes a cover sheet with instructions -- the agency has allowed testers four hours.
CBP provided a list of processes that are currently or will be eventually handled by Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs) during a May 28 Webinar. CBP has opened seven CEEs so far. CBP has been providing some outreach on how customs brokers will be involved.
CBP clarified recent policy changes for amending waiver for prior notice (see 13040819) in a CSMS message. Approved waivers covering a specific type of 1313(j) drawback may be amended to include goods covered by another 1313(j) drawback type, as long as the exports are still within the allowable statutory timeframe, the agency said. The existing approval will be "updated to include the additional 1313(j) type and will apply to drawback claims that meet the statutory timeframes.," it said.
The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General issued a report containing an independent audit conducted by KPMG LLP that provides observations and recommendations related to CBP's information technology management for FY 2012. The audit showed "a significant deficiency in the areas of Information Technology (IT) security management, access controls, configuration management, segregation of duties, contingency planning, and application controls," said KPMG.
CBP listed changes to the Electronic Invoice Program (EIP)/Remote Location Filing (RLF) hybrid ineligible forms list (dated June 2011). CBP said in a CSMS message the following forms have been removed from the ineligible forms list and are eligible to be submitted to CBP via the EIP/RLF hybrid process:
CBP is beginning work on implementation of online bulletin notices of liquidation, and the elimination of posting at the customhouse, the agency said. The move is long-overdue and would make keeping up with liquidation easier for importers and service providers, said industry lawyers. The idea, which was suggested by a CBP Branch Chief, was one of four finalists for the government’s Securing Americans Value and Efficiency (SAVE) award. CBP has formed an implementation team that includes the official that came forward with the idea, said an agency spokeswoman.
The U.S. trade deficit with goods to China fell by $5.5 billion in March, reflecting a drop in all top categories of U.S. imports from China, according to recent data from the U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission. March exports to China were 4 percent lower than one year ago, while imports declined 13 percent from last year, the Commission said in its monthly review of U.S.-China trade data. The steepest import declines were in miscellaneous manufactured commodities, and computer and electronic products. On the export side, agricultural products and chemicals declined, the former by more than 34 percent compared to March 2012. Exports in transportation equipment, machinery and computer and electronic products all increased from last year.