CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2311 on Oct. 12, containing 12,260 ABI records and 2,452 Harmonized Tariff Schedule records. This update includes 2023 Cotton Fee amendments, fixing an issue with an earlier HSU (see 2309290044), as well as updates to statistical reporting numbers that were amended since the last assessment adjustment in 2022, CBP said in a Oct. 13 CSMS message.
The World Customs Organization's Harmonized System Committee will extend its customary five-year review cycle by an additional year, the WCO said in a press release on Oct. 12. This means that the next version of the Harmonized System will be implemented on Jan. 1, 2028.
The Harmonized Tariff Schedule updates for fees on pecans and Christmas trees won't be active before ACE Collections goes live on Nov. 4, CBP said in a CSMS message. Once that happens, the HTS updates for pecan and Christmas tree fees will be "implemented and available" on Nov. 5. The updated fees apply to in-shell pecans, shelled pecans, Douglas fir Christmas trees, other fir Christmas trees, and other evergreen Christmas trees.
The Texas Department of Public Safety has begun truck inspections at its facility outside of the Laredo-Colombia Solidarity Bridge in Laredo, Texas, according to a CBP email released by the Laredo Licensed U.S. Customs Brokers Association. CBP said the inspections are expected to remain in place until further notice and delays are expected, according to the LLUSCBA.
The European Commission will not extend the legal framework that exempts liner shipping from EU antitrust rules, it said in an announcement Oct. 10. The commission said the antitrust rules, known as the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER), "no longer promotes competition in the shipping sector" and will expire on April 25, 2024.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP has released its Oct. 11 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 57, No. 37), which includes the following ruling action:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP was to resume on a "limited schedule" commercial operations at the Bridge of the Americas cargo facility Oct. 10, according to an agency news release the previous day.
Major Chinese seafood processing plants are employing Uyghurs that have forcibly been shipped in from Xinjiang, and imports from those plants are likely entering U.S. supply chains, according to a report from the Outlaw Ocean Project that was also published in The New Yorker on Oct. 9. Citing internal company newsletters, local news reports and posts from Uyghur workers on social media, among other things, the report tied use of Uyghur forced labor to processors in China's Shandong province, including Chishan Group, Yantai Sanko Fisheries and Yantai Longwin Foods, as well as Shandong Haidu and Rongcheng Haibo, which together handle 30% of all squid processed in China.