U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice announcing that the next customs broker license exam will be held on Monday, October 5, 2009.
The Office of Textiles and Apparel reports that effective June 1, 2009, China's Value Added Tax (VAT) export rebate (duty drawback rate) for most footwear, headgear, and travel goods increased two percentage points to 15 percent. Certain polymers, silk products, cotton waste, and umbrella goods are also affected by China's most recent decree. (Notice, dated 06/09/09, available at http://web.ita.doc.gov/otexa/hotiss.nsf/7bfa72c94f543da685256e5b00498a4d/68f0c4d32b725d10852575d0004841c8?OpenDocument)
In Aectra Refining and Marketing, Inc. v. U.S., the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the ruling issued by the Court of International Trade that Aectra was not entitled to drawback for Merchandise Processing Fees (MPF) and Harbor Maintenance Taxes (HMT) paid on certain imports.
The Government Accountability Office has issued a report to certain Congressional committees which states that the effectiveness of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's Performance and Registration Information Systems Management (PRISM) program is difficult to measure, and national implementation may not occur for years if PRISM continues as a voluntary program.
CBP has posted an updated list of the entry, summary, and drawback points of contact. (List, dated 05/13/09, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/trade_programs/trade_contacts/entry_summary_drawback.xml)
The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently held a four-day series of hearings on the discussion draft of "The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009" (ACES). The hearings were to examine the views of the Administration and a broad range of stakeholders on the discussion draft.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a Broker Self-Assessment Outreach Pilot Program (BSA pilot program) quick reference guide.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has issued a temporary final rule which, effective April 1, 2009, increases federal excise tax rates and imposes a floor stocks tax1 on a larger scope of imported tobacco products, cigarette papers, and cigarette tubes.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message stating that the code to accept the Lacey Act data was successfully deployed the morning of April 1, 2009 to both the Production and Certification regions. CBP notes that it has already received a number of entries containing Lacey Act data and that the application is working in good form. (CSMS 09-000156, dated 04/01/09, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17544&page=&srch_argv=09-000156&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby)
The Office of Textiles and Apparel has announced that effective April 1, 2009, China's value-added tax (VAT) export rebate (duty drawback rate) for most textile and apparel goods will rise one percentage point to 16%. The rate for leather and leather apparel products will rise to 13%. The list of products and tariff number (partially in English) subject to the increase has also been posted. (See future issue of ITT for details.) (OTEXA press release with link to list, dated 03/30/09, http://web.ita.doc.gov/otexa/hotiss.nsf/7bfa72c94f543da685256e5b00498a4d/bb32a878458380a185257566004caeef?OpenDocument)