CBP released its Jan. 15 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 48, No. 2). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does include recent Court of International Trade decisions and general notices.

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:

CBP issued a final rule, effective Jan. 15, to amend CBP regulations to reflect the imposition of import restrictions on certain archaeological and ethnological material from Bulgaria. These restrictions are being imposed in accordance with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The final rule adds Bulgaria to the list of countries for which a bilateral agreement has been entered into for imposing cultural property import restrictions. It also contains the designated list that describes the types of archaeological and ethnological articles to which the restrictions apply.

Entries submitted to CBP missing invoices require a new entry and cannot be updated in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) with a Post Summary Correction (PSC), CBP said in a CSMS message. The ACE Business Rules and Process Document "is currently being revised to include this additional guidance," CBP said.

CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Jan. 13. 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.

CBP posted a Jan. 13 version of its CF 1400 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Entrances) electronic query report of the Vessel Management System (VMS), in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by entrances. CBP also posted a version of its CF 1401 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Clearances) electronic query report of the VMS, in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by clearances.

CBP published the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts (underpayments) and refund (overpayments) of customs duties. For the quarter which began Jan. 1 and ends March. 31, the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3 percent for non-corporations, and the rate of underpayments will be 3 percent for corporations and non-corporations. These interest rates are subject to change for the calendar quarter beginning April 1 and ending June 30, said CBP.

A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website Jan. 10, 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 will add several Missouri ports to the Simplified Entry pilot, said Scarbrough International, a pilot participant, in a press release. CBP recently told the company it will add the Port of St. Louis, Kansas City Airport and Springfield Airport to the program, Scarbrough said. The pilot, now officially called the Automated Commercial Environment Cargo Release, was recently expanded (see 13110115). “As one of only a few brokers nationally with the permissions and capabilities to transmit a Simplified Entry, we are very pleased to be the voice for the Midwest and represent the many international businesses in our region that utilize Missouri airports to fulfill their supply chain and logistics needs,” said Adam Hill, vice president of Operations for Scarbrough

CBP New York/Newark released statistics in a pipeline notice showing the "cycle time measurement" of Centralized Examination Stations from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. The cycle times refer to the time from ocean container arrival, as transmitted via the Automated Commercial Environment, through final examination completion as recorded in the Cargo Enforcement Reporting and Tracking System.