An Iranian businessman was sentenced to 46 months in prison for illegally exporting carbon fiber from the U.S. to Iran, the Justice Department said Nov. 14. Behzad Pourghannad worked with two others between 2008 and 2013 to export the carbon fiber to Iran from third countries using falsified documents and front companies, the agency said.
Apple was fined about $465,000 for violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Sanctions Regulations after it hosted, sold and “facilitated the transfer” of software applications and content belonging to a sanctioned company, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a Nov. 25 notice. Apple allegedly dealt in “the property and interests” of SIS d.o.o., a Slovenian software company added to OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals List in 2015.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 25-29 in case they were missed.
A new working group within the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) is reviewing the risks and benefits around remote and autonomous cargo processing, according to a CBP issue paper released ahead of the Dec. 4 COAC meeting. “Drones, driverless vehicles, captainless ships -- autonomous delivery is already operating within borders to deliver goods to customers,” it said in the paper. The government should examine the risks and opportunities created by the technologies, CBP said. “As CBP embarks on autonomous processes and conditions, it needs to realize impacts and benefits to industry.”
The 2019 annual user fee of $147.89 for each customs broker district permit and national permit held by an individual, partnership, association or corporation is due by Jan. 31, 2020, CBP said in a notice. If a broker fails to pay the annual user fee by the published due date, the appropriate port director will notify the broker in writing of the failure to pay and will revoke the permit to operate. The 2019 fee represents an increase from last year's user fee of $144.74, as previously announced (see 1908010021).
While the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is asking for the renewed Craft Beverage Modernization Act to simplify the process of applying for the lower excise taxes on imports, the break for small producers of beer, wine and spirits may be gone entirely in a little more than a month. The CBMA was included in broader tax reform legislation in 2017 (see 1712180033).
The Food and Drug Administration should harness blockchain, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to address food safety issues in quickly evolving supply chains, and customs brokers will play a central role in facilitating adoption and the correct use of these new technologies by smaller and medium-sized operations, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments recently submitted to FDA.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America will use lobbying firm Whitmer & Worrall as Washington counsel, the association said in a Nov. 21 email. “Whitmer & Worrall is honored to support NCBFAA in representing the business of customs brokers, forwarders and OTI's, as transportation facilitators and logistics professionals," said Gabe Pellathy, partner at Whitmer & Worrall. "We look forward to achieving results for NCBFAA members through our collaboration including strategic planning, issues management and stakeholder engagement." Jon Kent, who previously lobbied for the NCBFAA, is retiring (see 1909030030).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its fall 2019 regulatory agenda for CBP. The only new trade-related rulemaking included is a proposed requirement for the U.S. Postal Service to transmit advance electronic information to CBP for international mail shipments. That rule is a result of the STOP Act, or Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, signed by President Donald Trump in October 2018 (see 1810240052). CBP is targeting December to issue an interim final rule, it said.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America will use lobbying firm Whitmer & Worrall as Washington counsel, the association said in a Nov. 21 email. “Whitmer & Worrall is honored to support NCBFAA in representing the business of customs brokers, forwarders and OTI's, as transportation facilitators and logistics professionals," said Gabe Pellathy, partner at Whitmer & Worrall. "We look forward to achieving results for NCBFAA members through our collaboration including strategic planning, issues management and stakeholder engagement." Jon Kent, who previously lobbied for the NCBFAA, is retiring (see 1909030030).