As the Federal Maritime Commission considers reversing its rulemaking from 2018, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is arguing that unreasonable practices should continue to be subject to enforcement only if they are "normal, customary and continuous."
The U.K. added three entries to its Myanmar sanctions regime in an Aug. 24 notice. The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation added International Gateways Group, Sky One Construction and Star Sapphire Group to the sanctions list, all for contributing funds to and brokering deals for military goods for the Myanmar security forces, which committed human rights atrocities against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, the U.K said.
Taiwan is encouraging exporters to alert its Bureau of Foreign Trade if they encounter certain issues shipping goods to China, the bureau said last week. China’s customs agency has reportedly detained goods originating in Taiwan if the items aren’t labeled as "Made in Taiwan, China,” the foreign trade bureau said. Beijing objects to any insinuation on product labeling that suggests Taiwan is a separate territory and not a part of China (see 2208080026). Taiwan said exporters with detained goods in China should provide the bureau with “relevant information, such as the customs ports, importers, customs brokers, and descriptions of goods.” Then, the Taiwan Customs agency will contact China's Customs to deal with the situation.
The Bureau of Industry and Security this week issued a new set of frequently asked questions covering the Entity List, Russia-related export controls and Russia-related sanctions evasion.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America sent a letter to the Federal Maritime Commission last week requesting guidance on Ocean Shipping Reform Act regulations. In an Aug. 15 email to members, NCBFAA said it asked the FMC for more “clarity” on OSRA provisions that restrict common carriers from invoicing parties for detention and demurrage unless the invoice includes certain required information. The group also asked the commission about the fee dispute process; made “inquiries with respect to the treatment of ocean carrier vendors, such as railroads and chassis pools”; and asked about new, prohibited conduct for common carriers. NCBFAA asked FMC to explain “to what extent do these new prohibitions and requirements, especially for invoicing, apply to marine terminal operators, customs brokers, freight forwarders, breakbulk agents, and other entities assessing and invoicing” fees.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control on Aug. 1 added six companies and one vessel to its Specially Designated Nationals List for their involvement in the sale of Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products to East Asia.
The U.K.'s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation on July 26 issued a general license, titled "Payment to UK Insurance Companies for Building and Engineering Insurance," under its autonomous sanctions regimes. The license indefinitely permits designated individuals and entities to use a frozen bank account to pay U.K. insurers insurance premiums, reinsurance premiums and broker commissions for building and engineering insurance coverage. The license further allows U.K. insurers to receive these payments and to make return payments to frozen U.K. bank accounts due to overpayments and the payment of funds due as a result of a claim made relating to the payments. Sanctioned parties can also receive return payments from U.K. insurers into frozen bank accounts.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is seeking feedback from its members on the recently implemented Ocean Shipping Reform Act. In a July 25 email to members, the group asked for questions, experiences and concerns with OSRA, including how “your operations are being impacted” by the new measures. Members should send their input to mmontgomery@ncbfaa.org. OSRA was signed into law in June (see 2206160064) and already has resulted in a new Federal Maritime Commision complaint submission process for certain carrier charges (see 2207150031).
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America recently updated its U.S. Principal Party in Interest Responsibility Information Sheet and its Shipper’s Letter of Instruction (SLI) Model, the group said in a July 18 email to members. Forwarders can distribute the USPPI sheet to help their export customers better understand their exporting responsibilities, including commodity jurisdiction issues, due diligence requirements and export filing mandates. The updated SLI model focuses on the fields needed to submit Electronic Export Information and comply with export control requirements, NCBFAA said.
Ongoing labor negotiations between West Coast ports and their dockworkers’ union are unlikely to cause major disruptions, said David Bennett, chief commercial officer of Farrow, a customs broker and logistics provider. But that doesn’t mean shippers should expect the negotiations to wrap up anytime soon. “I don't think we'll have a contract before September, to be honest with you,” Bennett said during a July 14 webinar hosted by the Journal of Commerce.