On Feb. 23, the FDA posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of:
The Foreign-Trade Zones Board issued the following notices on Feb. 26:
With no legislative action on a proposal to end China's eligibility for de minimis shipments, one of its authors, Sen. Sherrod Brown, is asking the Biden administration to end de minimis treatment for all e-commerce purchases, or, at least, stop de minimis treatment for goods subject to partner government agency review, products that are trade priorities, and goods subject to Section 301 and Section 232 tariffs.
Mohamed Daoud Ghacham, executive at California-based clothing wholesale company Ghacham Inc., was sentenced to 48 months in prison for undervaluing garment imports to avoid paying customs duties, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced Feb. 23. In addition, the Bell, California, resident will pay close to $6.4 million in restitution after pleading guilty in December 2022 to conspiracy to "pass false and fraudulent papers through a customhouse."
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Feb. 23, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
CBP posted the following documents ahead of the March 6 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting, which begins at 1 p.m. EST:
Seafood processed by North Korean guest workers in China is finding its way into U.S. supply chains, despite U.S. laws that presume all goods made by North Korean nationals are made with forced labor, according to a report by the Outlaw Ocean Project published Feb. 25 in The New Yorker. Relying on government documents, social media, local news reports and local investigators, the journalism non-profit said it found 15 seafood processing plants that used over 1,000 North Korean laborers since 2017, 10 of which shipped seafood to over 70 U.S. importers. Chinese companies identified in the report as using North Korean labor include Dalian Haiqing Food, Dandong Galicia Seafood, Dandong Omeca Food, Dandong Taifeng Foodstuff, Dandong Yuanyi Refined Seafoods, Donggang Haimeng Foodstuff and Donggang Xinxin Foodstuff.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee's (COAC) Broker Modernization Working Group will recommend that CBP unify the registration and "site selection process" for candidates applying for the customs brokers licensing exam. The goal would be to include "registration, site selection, payment, and other ancillary requirements," the working group said.
CBP announced an Enforce and Protect Act investigation saying there is reasonable suspicion that several companies evaded the antidumping and countervailing duty orders on mattresses from China and Vietnam. The companies are Beanomy, IYEE Nature, Kelanch, Wakodo Household Supply, Xinshidian Trading, Zevoky, Kakaivy, Weekaly, Heniddy, Ryan James Engineering, Sunwind Trading and Anlowo. The agency said this finding made the enactment of interim measures necessary.