CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of June 30. This report (here) 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.
Seattle Container Exam Station (CES) MacMillan Piper will be shutting down operations over the next two months, according to a CBP notice issued June 30. On July 5, CES MacMillan Piper will no longer be available as an option for agriculture inspections. The last day for all other CBP exam-designated cargo for the CES will be Aug. 15. The facility will close for good on Aug. 31, said CBP.
CBP has resolved an issue with its link with the Food and Drug Administration during the overnight hours. The problem, which started around 8:00 p.m. on June 30 according to a CSMS message (here), broke the connection between the Automated Commercial System and FDA’s OASIS system. As a result, submitters who filed via ABI/ACS didn’t receive prior notice confirmation and CBP was prevented from autochecking the prior notice confirmation for ABI/ACS filers, said CBP. In response, CBP declared a Prior Notice Contingency 1. The problem was resolved on the morning of July 1, but the issue “resulted in a processing delay and backlog of entries including Prior Notice submissions which are currently being processed as quickly as possible,” said CBP (here). “Please do not attempt to resubmit entries through ABI/ACS as this could cause further problems,” it said.
An importer and distributor of flash memory devices should value most of its entries from a related-party exporter using transaction value, and may use reconciliation to adjust the value based on a formula, said CBP in internal advice decision issued in March that addressed concerns raised during a focused assessment audit conducted in 2010. The anonymous “Company B” provided sufficient documentation to CBP to prove that its sales were bona fide, and that its relationship with its related-party supplier did not influence prices.
CBP said its Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1404 was created June 30, containing 361 ABI records and 93 harmonized tariff records. The update contains modifications mandated by the 484(f) committee for statistical annotation of the tariff schedules. Adjustments required by the verification of the 2014 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are also included, CBP said in a CSMS message. These changes are effective July 1, 2014. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website June 27, 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://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.
CBP will hold an outreach event in San Francisco on July 17 at 9:30-11:30 a.m. to discuss the rollout of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) with the trade community. Steve Hilsen, director of business transformation at CBP’s ACE business office will discuss upcoming ACE deployments, new functionality, and mandatory dates for filing through ACE. Space for the event is limited, said CBP. To register, email Elizabeth Valentini at elizabeth.a.valentini@cbp.dhs.gov.
Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated June 27 with 195 rulings, bringing the total number of searchable rulings to 182,662. The most recent ruling is dated 06/27/14.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages from the Commerce Department posted to CBP's website June 26, 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://adcvd.cbp.dhs.gov/adcvdweb.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues: