The Obama administration is committed to opening the Chinese private marketplace for U.S. high-tech products, said the Commerce Department in a Dec. 29 briefing on the outcomes of the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. The briefing touted intellectual property protection gains and plans for more improvement, among a long list of other achievements. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman joined Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker to praise progress at the JCCT after the event wrapped up on Dec. 18 (see 1412190020).
CBP has plans to start at least six more Participating Government Agency pilot programs in 2015 to test interoperability with the Automated Commercial Environment, according to an agency schedule for the pilots (here). Previously announced pilots set to begin in 2015 are an Environmental Protection Agency test for Notices of Arrival for pesticides and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declaration, it said. The other pilot programs set for 2015 are:
SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- A wide-ranging update to the trade-related regulations of agencies outside CBP may not be possible by the 2016 deadline for completion of the International Trade Data System (ITDS), said CBP Office of International Trade Commissioner Brenda Smith. "People rarely want to change regulations," she said Oct. 17 at the Western Cargo Conference. "My guess is that, there is a lot more work than we are going to be able to get to by 2016," she said. Still, the Border Interagency Executive Council is already discussing ways to make improvements, such as aligning differing definitions between CBP and the Food and Drug Administration for unique identifiers and port facilities, she said.
CBP is putting together a Lacey Act import working group to consider the technical requirements necessary for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to take part in the International Trade Data System, said CBP in a CSMS message. The Lacey Act working group, to be part of the Trade Support Network, "consists of members of the trade whose businesses are regulated by the APHIS Lacey Act Program, trade software developers who support the business processes, as well as representatives from the Lacey Act Program," and CBP, it said. Those interested in participating should email Frank Korpusik at frank.j.korpusik@cbp.dhs.gov by Oct. 24, said CBP.
The other government agencies involved in the completion of the International Trade Data System have become increasingly engaged in that work following the February Executive Order on ITDS, said Carol Cave, director of Import Surveillance, Consumer Product Safety Commission. Cave and other agency officials discussed the progress on Sept. 15 during the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference. "There is a major shift going on with [the Border Interagency Executive Council]" as the government works to finish the system by 2016, as required in the Executive Order (see 14021928). For example, there's been a lot more coordination in looking at which agencies collect the same information that the CPSC also requires, said Cave.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service launched a new website that gives importers another option for filing Lacey Act Declarations electronically, the agency said Sept. 3. The Lacey Act Web Governance System (LAWGS) (here) allows importers and their customs brokers to log into APHIS systems and enter their PPQ Form 505 directly. The new system is not intended to replace filing of Lacey Act Declarations in the Automated Broker Interface, but is instead intended to give remaining paper filers an electronic option. LAWGS will eventually replace all paper submissions, said APHIS.
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is requesting comments by Oct. 20 for an existing information collection on the import of certain plants and plant products, as required by the Lacey Act. APHIS proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with a change to the burden hours. While the estimated "number of respondents has decreased, there has been an overall increase in the burden estimates due to an increase in the number declarations completed per respondent," it said.
LAS VEGAS -- The place for Remote Location Filing within the virtual Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is yet to be decided at this point, said Brenda Brockman Smith, executive director of the ACE business office at CBP. Smith, who spoke at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference on April 9, also said she expects the agency to add some Food and Drug Administration (FDA) elements to the system before CBP begins to require all trade filing in ACE.
Pending legislative amendments to the Lacey Act would hurt the U.S. domestic timber industry and increase the risk of ecological damage by hampering the interagency ability to regulate illicit trafficking of environmental products and species, said government and industry officials and conservation advocates at a Feb. 27 congressional hearing. The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs hearing examined the Aquaculture Risk Reduction Act, HR-3105 (here), Lacey Act Clarifying Amendments Act, HR-3280 (here), The Lacey Act Paperwork Reduction Act, HR-3324 (here), and North Texas Invasive Species Barrier Act, HR-4032 (here).
A New York man and his company pleaded guilty Jan. 29 in Eastern New York U.S. District Court to Lacey Act violations stemming from the mislabeling of imported piranhas. Joel Rakower and his wholly-owned company Transship Discounts will serve probation and pay a fine for labeling piranhas as a common aquarium fish on packing lists to avoid a New York City ban on the aggressive predator, and providing those false packing lists to the Fish and Wildlife Service.