In the Jan. 20 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 50, Nos. 2 and 3) (here), CBP published notices that propose to revoke or modify rulings and similar treatment for nozzles for dispersing or spraying high-pressure liquids and the physical vacuum deposition process as a "use" for purposes of same condition drawback.
The customs broker’s license examination scheduled for April 2016 will be on Monday, April 4, said CBP in a notice (here). The exam will consist of 80 multiple-choice questions. Exam topics usually include: Entry; Classification; Trade Agreements; Valuation; Broker Compliance; Power of Attorney; Marking; Drawback; Bonds; Foreign Trade Zones; Warehouse Entries; Intellectual Property Rights; and other subjects pertinent to a broker's duties.
Nineteen trade associations urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to schedule a vote for the customs reauthorization bill -- the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (H.R. 644) -- in a Jan. 15 letter (here). After the House passed the legislation (see 1512110029), the bill has sat idle in the Senate and no vote is scheduled, a McConnell spokeswoman said on Jan. 19. “We have worked for over a decade to bring this long-overdue legislation to passage, and so we urge you to quickly schedule a vote on the conference report,” the letter reads. If binding, the legislation would save money for U.S. businesses and consumers by modernizing customs laws and procedures to keep up with business trends and increase efficiency, the groups said.
CBP posted a new chapter of the CBP and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) for drawback entry summary. The new CATAIR chapter (here) "is intended to provide the conventional trade interface information for the ACE-version of a Drawback Entry Summary filing," it said.
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Treasury’s Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) is seeking to collect information to verify claims for drawback of the federal excise tax for items--"generally nonbeverage products"--brought into the U.S. mainland from Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands (here). Treasury will submit the information request to the Office of Management and Budget for review and clearance.
The broken piece of a screen printing machine is ineligible for drawback due to a lack of information on the duty paid related to the specific part, said CBP in a Oct. 9 ruling (here). While the importer, CCL Tube, subsequently provided more information on the imported components, "CBP is not required to undertake additional appraisement procedures in order to ascertain the value or duty paid on component parts," said the agency in HQ H259469. CBP's ruling was in response to a further review of protest request from CCL.
Provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that may force the U.S. to make major changes to how it assesses the merchandise processing fee (MPF) is getting attention on Capitol Hill, a Congressional staffer said. Article 2.15 of the recently agreed text, which still requires approval from Congress, provides that "no party shall levy fees and charges on or in connection with importation or exportation on an ad valorem basis." MPF, which is currently charged at an ad valorem rate of 0.3464% on formal entries, with per entry minimums and maximums, would have to be converted into a flat fee in order to comply, said one staffer.
Lawmakers finished up work on a conference version of long-debated customs reauthorization legislation that combines the underlying concepts of the Senate- and House-proposed customs bills, said Conference Committee members on Dec. 9 (here). Notably, the compromise legislation (here) would impose the ENFORCE Act's firm deadlines on CBP to investigate claims of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion, and would require new regulations on customs broker identification of importers, under threat of penalty. A new provision in the legislation -- absent from either chamber's original bill -- would hold CBP to stricter deadlines for reliquidating entries. The bill could go to a vote on the House floor as early as Dec. 11, a congressional staffer said. The lawmakers also released a summary (here) and joint explanatory statement (here) on the bill's provisions.
CBP is requesting comments by Feb. 1 on an existing information collection for protests. CBP proposes (here) to extend the expiration date of this information collection without a change to the burden hours or information collected.