The CBP April 10 Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 16) proposes to revoke its treatment of whether hydrating and pitting prunes counts as a manufacture for drawback purposes. CBP previously considered that process to be a manufacture, but recently said otherwise in a response to an internal advice request from Sunsweet Growers. Sunsweet Growers imports prunes, which, upon importation, are steamed or cooked to be hydrated and then pitted and placed under a laser scanner that detects pit fragments, it said. The prunes maintain the same nutritional content following the hydration and pitting, the company said.

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website April 12, 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 addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website April 11, 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 addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)

CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of April 8. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, and tobacco; and certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, OFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, OFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying textile articles and/or other articles; the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc.

The CBP Miami field office released contact information for import specialist teams based on HTS chapter assignments. Formal entries filed should be assigned to the import specialist teams based on the HTS groupings, said the information bulletin.

Jeremy Baskin, senior advisor to the executive director of regulations and rulings in the Office of International Trade at CBP is retiring from the agency June 1, he said in a brief interview. Baskin didn't give any specific plans but said he will be looking for "what's next" after retirement. Baskin started his career with customs in 1977 as a staff attorney.

The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association (NCBFAA) has some serious qualms with a recent CBP proposal that would establish a process for canceling a broker's filer code (see 13022521). CBP, which seems to want the ability to immediately shut down a business, may not understand the severity of what the revocation of a filing code would mean, said Alan Klestadt, a lawyer with Grunfeld Desiderio and customs counsel for the association. Klestadt spoke at the NCBFAA conference April 10. NCBFAA will file comments in opposition and push CBP to withdrawal the proposal, he said. "I believe if this proposal goes forward, almost in any shape or form, even with provisions, the first time they use that authority, we're going to be in court." Even if the regulations go forward as is, "we're going to have to look at our remedies before they flex that muscle, said Klestadt. Outside of a conviction in court, "I can't really see a scenario where CBP can summarily pull a filer code."

CBP issued its April 10 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 16), which contains notices of the following ruling action:

CBP is considering continuing education requirements of 40 hours every three years for customs brokers to maintain their licenses, said Elena Ryan, director of Trade Facilitation and Administration at CBP, who spoke via telephone at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America conference April 10 in California. The requirement would amount to about an "hour a month" and it would be up to the broker to decide how they want to spread it out, she said. The framework, which is still in very "preliminary stages" was developed by CBP and the NCBFAA as part of the ongoing review of 19 CFR 111 regulations. The issue has been one of the more controversial aspects of the review (see 13031422).

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website April 9, 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 addcvd.cbp.gov. (CBP occasionally adds backdated messages without otherwise indicating which message was added. ITT will include a message date in parentheses in such cases.)