CBP hopes a close relationship with trade through a trade intelligence industry liaison will allow the agency to stay current on business trends and improve processing at the Centers for Excellence and Expertise (CEEs), said John Leonard, acting executive director for trade policy and programs at CBP. Leonard spoke as part of several recent forums on Trade Intelligence, said a CBP press release.
Los Angeles Field Operations of CBP issued Public Bulletin No. LA12-025 to list the types of merchandise exams that CBP conducts at the ports, their basis and the factors affecting the time required to release a shipment. The Bulletin also provides instructions on how the trade can make written inquiry on the frequency of exams for both inbound (import) shipments and outbound (export) shipments, and the information CBP requires in such inquiries. The Bulletin notes that the information provided is specific to the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport.
CBP said the fourth quarter 2012 (Oct. 1-Dec. 31) Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts (underpayments) and refunds (overpayments) of customs duties are: 2% for overpayments by corporations; 3% for overpayments by non-corporations; and 3% for underpayments. These rates are unchanged from the corresponding rates in effect for the third quarter of calendar year 2012. The CBP Federal Register notice is scheduled for Sept. 27.
CBP released its Sept. 26 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 46, No. 40). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does list recent Court of International Trade decisions.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Sept. 24, 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 http://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 said in a CSMS message problems with Import Trade Auxiliary Communication System (ITACS) document uploads are related to the .pdf file extension. CBP said in May some users are finding problems with ITACS in which document upload fails and FDA does not receive them. When these uploads fail users are receiving the message "The documents have been scheduled for submission." instead of "The documents have been successfully submitted". The upload failures are occurring when the pdf file extension is in uppercase (.PDF) instead of lowercase (.pdf), said CBP. A fix for this issue is scheduled for implementation in late October, but in the meantime users should change the file extension to lowercase ".pdf " in order for their documents to successfully upload.
CBP issued a CSMS message to remind those filing ACE ABI In-Bond transactions that they must nominate themselves as a secondary notify party in the transaction. If the carrier has not nominated the filer, a failure to nominate oneself will mean the filer will not receive any of the subsequent status notifications related to the in-bond filing, said CBP.
CBP is requesting comments by Nov. 26 for an existing information collection on foreign assembler declarations with endorsement by the importer. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with a change to the burden hours but not the information collected, it said in a notice scheduled to run in the Federal Register Sept. 26.
CBP Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar worked with with the Border Interagency Executive Council in developing a “one U.S. government” approach to partnerships with the trade, said a CBP press release. The council is made up of senior executives from 10 U.S. federal agencies and collaborates on issues including the federal government's efforts to transform the trade process, ongoing efforts across federal agencies to partner with the trade, and the use of automation to streamline the international trade clearance process, said CBP.
CBP updated its guidance on interim filing options for merchandise transported via pipelines to say "non-NAFTA qualifying merchandise transported via pipeline is now eligible to be entered on a monthly basis using RLF." CBP previously only allowed for non-NAFTA RLF filing on a daily basis. NAFTA qualifying merchandise is still eligible for monthly RLF entry.