In recent editions of the Official Journal of the European Union the following trade-related notices were posted:
CBP will postpone the entire ACE deployment that was planned for Feb. 9, due to the partial federal government shutdown, it said in a CSMS message. Government agencies resumed full operation on Jan. 28. The deployment includes "automation of CBP Form 5106, unique identifiers for Centers of Excellence and Expertise," and updates to the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), CBP said. The agency will send out any updates on the deployment through another CSMS message. CBP previously said it planned to delay deployment of Form 5106 (see 1901170046). CBP also said that the "mandatory filing of drawback claims pursuant to the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA) is not impacted by the shutdown and will proceed as planned, regardless of funding status after February 15th. On February 24, 2019, all drawback claims must be filed as TFTEA drawback and must be done so electronically in ACE."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., have introduced a bill that would require the administration to review whether Cambodia should remain on the list of countries eligible for the General System of Preferences. Cambodia exported $400 million worth of products in 2017 that are covered by GSP, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Only eight GSP countries had higher GSP exports that year. In all, more than $21 billion in imports received GSP duty benefits during 2017. Cruz said that Cambodia does not meet basic labor rights standards, has had the integrity of its elections undermined by its prime minister, and tilted toward China. "The [just introduced] Cambodian Trade Act aims to hold [Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen] and his government accountable for this behavior, and reinforces steps our European partners are taking," he said in a statement. Coons added that "Countries that undermine democracy, ignore labor standards, disregard human rights, and fail to protect intellectual property should not enjoy special trade privileges."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2018 in case they were missed.
Christmas lights producers outside China appear to have doubled their volume of exports to the U.S. after the Section 301 tariffs more than doubled the tariffs on Chinese lights, according to the Coalition for GSP. The group decided to look at Christmas lights because nearly all of the imports happen from August through October, so the impact of the tariff jump on Chinese lights from 8 percent to 18 percent on Sept. 24 would show up immediately.
There's been some significant growth in imports of products eligible for Generalized System of Preferences benefits in recent months, the Coalition for GSP said in a blog post. The coalition, which advocates for keeping the GSP program in place and is run by a consultancy called Trade Partnership Worldwide, said October set another record for GSP imports. The GSP benefits in October saved U.S. companies $105 million, an increase of $12 million, or 13 percent, over the previous record set in August, the group said.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 5-11:
CBP is delaying the final transition date in ACE for moving customs brokers to national permits by one year until August 2020, it said in an updated deployment schedule posted to its website. The agency is also delaying the scheduled deployment date for certain Generalized System of Preferences fixes by several months, from December 2018 to March 2019, CBP said. The updated schedule no longer includes scheduled deployments for a vessel agent account type, which would have allowed payment of maritime processing fees online, or non-intrusive inspection program related improvements, which were set to modernize the entrance and clearance process in the truck environment using the Multi-Energy Portal imaging system (see 1809240020). Finally, CBP set a concrete deployment date of Feb. 9 for its upcoming ACE Form 5106 input process and unique identifiers for the Centers of Excellence and Expertise. A September version of the schedule had said they’d be deployed in February 2019.
CBP updated its guidance on how importers of goods excluded from Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum can file entries and receive refunds, it said in a Nov. 8 CSMS message. The message includes information related to the change in policy allowing for product exclusions to apply starting on the day a request was filed with the Department of Commerce (see 1809040035), rather than the day the request was posted for public comment. "To request an administrative refund for previous imports of duty-excluded products granted by DOC, importers may file a [Post Summary Correction (PSC)] and provide the product exclusion number in the Importer Additional Declaration Field," CBP said. "If the entry has already liquidated, importers may protest the liquidation."
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