The Treasury Department published its spring 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (here), which lists a planned interim final rule that would establish the Automated Commercial Environment as the only means of electronic entry filing. There's also a new rulemaking listed that would relax documentation requirements for drawback claims.The agenda lists Treasury's CBP rulemakings that are pending at the proposed, interim final, final, and completed stages, as well as rulemakings that are long-term actions. The agenda lists the regulation title; past regulation(s), if any; the timeframe for the next regulatory action(s), if any; a brief description of the regulation; and a contact party name and telephone number. The Department of Homeland Security also issued its spring 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (see 1505220006).
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The Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General continued to find a number of problems with CBP's drawback program and called the agency's oversight of the program a "material weakness" in a new audit report (here). While the DHS OIG has called attention to the problems for several years in the annual reports, it added some new recommendations for the fiscal year 2014 report. The OIG noted that while the problematic conditions "have existed for several years," CBP's "planned remediation" depends on funding for information technology systems. There were other problematic areas, including single-transaction bond and information technology policies, though no other issues were considered to rise to the level of a "material weakness."
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The House Ways and Means Committee approved the four major trade bills up for consideration at its April 23 markup, following a full day of debate on the legislation. The committee ultimately sent to the House floor Trade Promotion Authority, Trade Adjustment Assistance, a preference package and a Customs Reauthorization bill. Committee lawmakers approved the same TPA, TAA and preference package bills the Senate Finance Committee endorsed the day before (see 1504230001). TPA passed in a partisan vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans in support. The other three bills passed by voice vote, a committee spokesman said.
Drawback modernization, an increase in the de minimis level to $800, and an exemption from duties for container residue are components of the customs reauthorization bill set for inclusion in the package of trade legislation coming together in Congress, according to a summary of the draft bill from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah (here). The customs reauthorization bill, introduced in the Senate (here), would also provide for enhanced trade enforcement, including databases of new importers and importer of record numbers, the ability for CBP to share unredacted samples of articles suspected to infringe intellectual property rights, and timelines for formal CBP investigations of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion. Highlights of the summary, which was provided by Hatch in anticipation of a markup scheduled for April 22 (see 1504200054), are as follows:
CBP found that the Houston Drawback Center was mistaken in rejecting a drawback claim for infrared camera systems that a contractor imported for use by the Defense Department. The agency ruled (here) in favor of the importer, FLIR Systems, in response to a request for further review of protest. The company procured the camera systems in 2008 for use in Operation Iraqi Freedom “in direct support of wartime activities,” said CBP.
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Congress should take up legislation now to simplify the drawback process or the “window for programming drawback simplification into the Automated Commercial Environment” will close, said trade groups in a letter to lawmakers. The letter was signed by American Association of Exporters and Importers and the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, said the NCBFAA, which described the letter in a notice to members. Industry will have to file through ACE by 2016, the final stage of ACE implementation.
A Department of Homeland Security funding lapse will not stop "front line cargo operations" and import and entry specialists will continue to review entries during that time, said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske. Kerlikowske discussed the looming shutdown, a result of a fight over DHS funding in congress, with members of the trade industry and reporters in a Feb. 26 call. Despite going without a paycheck during the shutdown, CBP personnel will also be available to answer questions for importers and brokers, he said. DHS funding will stop Feb. 28 unless congress allocates more funding before then.