CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet Nov. 14 in Washington, CBP said in a notice.
SAN DIEGO -- CBP is working on a rewrite of the foreign-trade zone regulations in 19 CFR 146 through engagement with the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC), CBP Deputy Director of Field Operations Anne Maricich said Oct. 23 during the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) conference. “The advisory stature of COAC will allow the revisions of the 146 to be elevated as a CBP priority, a level that’s not often seen,” she said. “We will remain engaged with NAFTZ representatives to review future operational requirements and business processes to improve the movement of freight in and out of foreign-trade zones.” The government aims to achieve greater efficiency through modernizing FTZ requirements and eliminating “wasteful and redundant” FTZ regulations, Maricich said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 16-20 in case they were missed.
SAN DIEGO -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission in July began a yearlong internal study of the usefulness of obtaining certain compliance data prior to import, CPSC Office of Import Surveillance Deputy Director Jim Joholske said Oct. 23 during the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) conference. The follow-up study, which began following completion of the six-month e-filing alpha pilot in December 2016 (see 1701270043), involves collecting existing product safety certificates of compliance each time a regular import exam is conducted, as part of an effort to determine the potential benefits of having the certificates’ data elements, pre-arrival, Joholske said.
CBP should update its regulations to give more details about the processing of forced labor allegations under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA), Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in an opening statement at an Oct. 24 hearing on the nomination of Kevin McAleenan for CBP commissioner. The Committee's ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., also sought clarity on the forced labor regulations. McAleenan said "we want to make sure we are able to apply all effective enforcement tools in the most precise and appropriate manner to this priority mission."
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
SAN DIEGO -- The rollout of ACE electronic foreign-trade zone capabilities set for Dec. 9 won’t include a comprehensive air split shipment filing mechanism as previously planned, CBP Cargo Security and Controls Director Jim Swanson said during the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones conference Oct. 23. “It’s going to work exactly the way it is right now,” he said. “Nobody was really ready for it, and it didn’t do quite what we wanted it to do. There were some issues with how it communicated with manifest systems.”
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will end its pilot program on blanket Lacey Act declarations in April 2018, it said. APHIS is ending the pilot, which began in 2009, “due to the development of the ACE system, and a diminishing number of participants,” with only eight companies still participating out of a total of 119 that have registered over the life of the program. “CBP’s [Border Release Advanced Screening and Selectivity (BRASS)] program will continue to operate as it did prior to the creation of the pilot program, and participants in the blanket declaration pilot program will not lose their line release status in the expedited border release programs,” APHIS said. “When the program ends, importers whose products are subject to the Lacey Act declaration requirement and clear under the BRASS program are advised to file the required declaration information along with their CBP entry summary documentation,” it said.