U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its January 2004 U.S. Customs and Border Protection Modernization newsletter which discusses, among other things, CBP's plans for expansion of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) in 2004. The following are "highlights" of CBP's January 2004 newsletter:

According to government sources, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is planning to conduct a "document accuracy test" of textiles and apparel that are entered as quota-free and visa-free using entry type '01.'

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a press release stating that Fiscal Year (FY) 2003 was a record-breaking year for the volume of trade entering through U.S. seaports and borders. According to CBP, it collected nearly $1 billion more in revenue for the federal government in FY 2003 than in FY 2002.

On December 22, 2003, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Max Baucus sent a letter expressing concerns about the ability of the Office of Foreign Assets Control to cut off terrorist financing.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) has issued a notice requesting public comments by February 10, 2004 regarding a "commercial availability" request it received under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA), and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA) from Warren Corporation:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a press release stating that it made 6,500 seizures of merchandise in violation of intellectual property rights (IPR) laws in Fiscal Year (FY) 2003, an increase of about 700 seizures over FY 2002, with the value of FY 2003 IPR seizures amounting to $94 million.

According to The Journal of Commerce, the submission to the Coast Guard of vessel and facility security plans by December 31, 2003 was only the first step as the crucial deadline is July 1, 2004, when vessels and shoreside facilities must have their security plans in operation. The article states that the Coast Guard plans to review the port security plans during the January-March 2003 time frame and by July 1, 2004, port facilities have to be operating in compliance. After that time, the Coast Guard will make unscheduled facility visits to make sure the plans are in operation. (JoC dated 01/12-18/04, www.joc.com.)

The International Trade Administration (ITA) frequently issues notices on antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period.