An International Service Agreement (ISA) should preserve the licensing and citizenship requirements for U.S. customs brokers, said the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) in comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Current regulations require that only U.S. citizens can obtain a broker's license and that at least one officer of a company or association must hold a valid broker's license in order to work on customs business. "These licensing and citizenship requirements are necessary and should be preserved in any" ISA, said the NCBFAA. CBP relies on the information entrusted to brokers and the ISA should provide an exception to "National Treatment," which gives equal treatment to domestic and foreign parties, said NCBFAA.
CBP released its March 6 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 11). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does include recent general notices and Court of International Trade decisions.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website March 6, 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 is requesting comments by May 7 for an existing information collection on ship's stores declarations. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection without a change to the burden hours or to the information collected.
The U.S. Council for International Business urged Congress to move forward with CBP reauthorization legislation last month, submitting comments to the House Ways and Means committee on the two CBP bills introduced in 2012. USCIB commended various parts of the bills, HR-6642 and HR-6656, including automated commercial environment funding, the appointment of a trade advocate and codification of the Centers for Excellence and Expertise. The group also recommended changes to the bills, such as altering the importer requirements so they're not prohibitive for small and medium enterprises. The group also recommended eliminating what it called the bill’s “overly onerous” provision requiring brokers to collect information on the identity of importers. The group’s complete comments are here. Jerry Cook, chair of USCIB's Customs and Trade Facilitation Committee, said in a press release the group was hopeful the minute differences between last year's bills can be worked out soon. “We cannot afford to let the opportunity to achieve a long awaited customs reauthorization bill pass by.”
CBP is requesting comments by May 7 for an existing information collection for the Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA). CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection without a change to the burden hours or to the information collected.
In the Feb. 27 issue of the CBP Bulletin (Vol. 47, No. 10), CBP published a notice on its revocation of a ruling on the country of origin marking of toy blocks.
CBP will begin operations in three new Centers of Excellence and Expertise in April, said Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar at the March 6 Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting. The three CEEs opening in April are: Base Metals (Chicago), Industrial & Manufacturing Materials (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Machinery (Laredo, Texas). The remaining three, Consumer Products & Mass Merchandising (Atlanta), Apparel, Footwear & Textiles (San Francisco), and Agriculture & Prepared Products (Miami), are scheduled to open in June.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website March 5, 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 officers and import specialists assigned to the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport seized 1,500 handbags with fake counterfeit “Hermès” trademarks. Had the goods been real, the seized handbags would have an estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $14,100,000. The merchandise, which arrived from China in two shipments, was seized by CBP officers on Feb. 12 and 26.