CBP published several thousand prospective rulings in 2020 on its Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) database. The agency issues its rulings from either the National Commodity Specialist Division in New York, which handles issues like classification, country of origin, marking and preferential treatment, or the Office of Regulations and Rulings at CBP headquarters in Washington, D.C., which may also decide other issues, such as valuation, drawback, exclusion order enforcement and liquidation.
The Commerce Department will put new aluminum import licensing regulations on hold and seek more comments on the program, it said in a notice released Jan. 25. “This delay in effective date is necessary to allow the incoming Administration time to review the Final Rule and consider any additional comments before implementation,” Commerce said. Comments on the final rule are now due Feb. 26. “Parties are invited to comment on all aspects of the Final Rule and” the Aluminum Import Monitoring and Analysis System, it said.
Customs broker notifications and requested documents that were previously sent to CBP headquarters should go instead to the email address for CBP's Broker Management Branch, the agency said in a CSMS message. That email address is brokermanagement@cbp.dhs.gov. “Documents do not need to be both emailed and mailed, as the notification will be received through the Broker Management Branch inbox,” it said. Among documents that should be emailed are national permit applications, exam appeals, license application appeals, license name change requests, notice by license qualifier of termination and changes in brokerage ownership, CBP said. “All documents required by licensing and permitting District offices are still to be sent to those offices via the means prescribed by those locations.”
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America recently published two export compliance documents to help guide freight forwarders involved in exporting, the group said in a Jan. 11 email to industry. The U.S. Principal Party in Interest export responsibility information sheet provides guidance on the responsibilities of an export customer in an export transaction, and the Shipper’s Letter of Instruction model is intended to help forwarders as they gather required export control information and create a company-specific SLI.
On the day that additional 25% tariffs were scheduled to go into effect on French handbags and cosmetics, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and CBP made no public statement about the tariffs' fate, leaving importers in the dark about what they should do.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories published in 2020 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference numbers.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP scheduled its semiannual customs broker license exams for 2021 to be administered on Wednesday, April 21, and Thursday, Oct. 21, the agency said in a notice. The exams are typically given on the fourth Wednesday in April and October. “Due to the limited availability of testing sites caused by state and local restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, CBP has changed the regularly scheduled dates of the examination,” the agency said.
DHL and Comstock & Theakston would like to see CBP reduce the number of hours it would require as a part of any continuing education requirements for customs brokers, the companies said in comments to the agency. The comments were in response to CBP's advance notice of proposed rulemaking that asked about whether requiring 40 hours of education over three years seems appropriate (see 2010270038). The companies also would like to see internal training apply to any required continuing education.