CBP officers and Consumer Product Safety Commission investigators seized multiple shipments containing nearly 24,000 toys which exceeded the legal limits for lead in the area port of Jacksonville, Fla., on Nov. 14, CBP said Nov. 26. Various counterfeit toys were also discovered. The total domestic value for the shipments was estimated to be nearly $220,000, CBP said.
CBP posted a Nov. 26 version of its CF 1400 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Entrances) electronic query report of the Vessel Management System (VMS), in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by entrances. CBP also posted a version of its CF 1401 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Clearances) electronic query report of the VMS, in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by clearances.
CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Nov. 26. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, and tobacco; and certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, OFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, OFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying textile articles and/or other articles; the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc.
The Department of Homeland Security must work closely with trade to develop innovate and efficient processes while ensuring the security of the global supply chain, said DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano Nov. 27, speaking at the CBP East Coast Trade Symposium. A better understanding and ability to identify risks in trade will facilitate the trade process, she said.
CBP will open six more Centers of Excellence and Expertise during FY 2013, bringing the total number of CEEs to 10, said CBP Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar, who spoke at CBP's Trade Symposium Nov. 27. The announcement marks the addition of another CEE beyond the previously announced total of nine CEEs planned for FY 2013. The additional location is a result of the splitting of Base Metals and Machinery, which were previously to be combined within a single CEE, at the suggestion of the trade community, said a CBP spokesman. Aguilar also announced the locations and industry focuses of the planned CEEs.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has failed to adequately assess whether its automated targeting system (ATS) addresses security risks or whether some alternative system would be more effective, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report posted October 26. With 13.4 million cargo containers arriving in U.S. seaports in 2011, CBP’s ability to detect weapons of mass destruction, other weapons, smuggled people and illicit substances is critical, it said in a letter to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
The U.S. and Japan have agreed to expand Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) agreement to apply to exports from the U.S. being imported in to Japan, said CBP Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar, speaking at the CBP East Coast Trade Symposium Nov. 27. The U.S. signed in 2009 a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) that recognizes compatibility between the U.S. Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and Japan's Partners AEO cargo security programs. That agreement didn't apply to U.S. exports to Japan.
CBP is working to install a revised process to better manage the privately owned and operated bonded facilities, said the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General in its report on "Major Management Challenges Facing the Department of Homeland Security." The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) pointed to the lax oversight of privately owned bonded facilities as a serious security flaw in a report earlier this year.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the International Trade Administration posted to CBP's website Nov. 21, 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 http://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.)