The Department of Homeland Security would like the World Customs Organization to continue to use the SAFE Framework of Standards for e-commerce rather than create a set of entirely new standards for that purpose, said Christa Brzozowski, deputy assistant secretary for trade and transport at the Department of Homeland Security. Brzozowski spoke on a panel about the WCO at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference Sept. 24 in Washington. "The concern from my perspective, from DHS' perspective and potentially from the U.S. government perspective -- that paper is still circulating, but we hope to present yet again at the WCO in early October -- is that we question whether there is value in creating sort of two distinct rules of the road, two distinct sets of tools for 'traditional flows' and 'e-commerce flows,'" she said.
A Canadian customs broker told a group of her colleagues from the U.S. that the last year "has been probably the most challenging year of my life." Kim Campbell, who is president of MKMarin Trade Services, fears it could get worse. If the Trump administration decides to levy tariffs on Canadian cars, car parts or uranium under Section 232, the amount of goods that now cross the border tariff-free would drop dramatically, she believes, because Canada would have to put in place counter-tariffs.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept.17-21 in case they were missed.
New filer evaluation processes recently announced by the Food and Drug Administration have now been adopted as standard operating procedures, and the agency’s field offices will start using them “beginning immediately,” said John Verbeten, director of FDA’s Division of Import Operations, at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference Sept. 24 in Washington.
Customs brokers this week will be lobbying congressional leaders to press the Department of the Treasury and CBP to change the proposed rule that excludes excise taxes from drawback, and will be asking members to co-sponsor the Customs Business Fairness Act (see 1712180053). The act, H.R. 4657, would change bankruptcy law so that customs brokers are not subject to clawback on duties advanced to CBP after a client declares bankruptcy.
The Court of International Trade on Sept. 24 dismissed a lawsuit from an importer whose Generalized System of Preferences refund request was denied as late, even though the cause was a misunderstanding with the importer’s customs broker. Industrial Chemicals had missed the 180-day deadline to file requests for refunds of duties paid during the GSP lapse of 2013-15. The importer had through a series of emails understood that its broker would request the refunds, and vice versa. After its eventual refund request was denied because it was filed after the deadline, Industrial Chemicals had protested, arguing the issue amounted to a “clerical error, mistake of fact, or other inadvertence.” CBP denied the protest in a ruling issued in November 2017 (see 1711170036). The trade court agreed, finding CBP’s decision was not protestable. The law renewing GSP “clearly states that importers must submit requests for retroactive application of GSP over certain entries by December 28, 2015,” CIT said. “Although Customs makes certain decisions related to the liquidation or reliquidation of merchandise, the plain language of the statute does not appear to give Customs discretion in administering refunds for this particular lapse in GSP,” it said.
Advance manifest submissions will be required in the truck environment for low-value Section 321 goods starting Jan. 1, CBP's Todd Owen said at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference on Sept. 24. "We are starting to make notice to the trade community that we are changing our policy on that and 321 shipments on truck coming from the border will require electronic submission ahead of time," he said. The truck environment was previously exempt from the advance manifest filing requirements, he said. The policy change is due in part to the added risks created with the rapid growth in low-value shipments and will allow for CBP to apply its advanced targeting to the truck environment, he said. While advance filing for trucks coming from Mexico was required in many places due to individual port directors, it's less common on the northern border, Owen said.
CBP recently posted its “estimated schedule” for upcoming deployments in ACE. Made possible by an additional $34 million in appropriations set aside for CBP ACE development this year (see 1805010035), agency development priorities include Section 321 filing capabilities in the Automated Broker Interface and automation of collection of CBP Form 5106 importer identity information (see 1805230061).
CBP will end its pilot allowing brokers to pre-certify importers for the Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) program, the agency said in a notice. "Unfortunately, there was minimal importer participation in the test; thus, CBP has determined that it is not effective to continue," CBP said. The pilot started in 2013 (see 13041623). "While a total of 23 brokers volunteered to participate in the test and 9 brokers were selected to participate in the test per the guidelines of the notice, the test proved unsuccessful as there was little participation from importers," the agency said. "Several importers expressed reservations about securing the services of a broker to conduct the ISA evaluations and indicated that the broker fees were cost prohibitive. Only three (3) importers signed up to be reviewed by the brokers. Because of the low participation rate, CBP has determined that the test and test program are not effective and has decided to terminate the test," effective Sept. 21. CBP added that the "discontinuation of the test and the publication of this notice will have no effect on the ISA program."
Multiple conservative-aligned groups called for CBP to change course on the agency's proposed plans to eliminate duty drawback for excise taxes. Those groups, including Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, filed comments on the proposed changes for drawback under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (see 1808020049). The question of ending drawback for excise taxes on domestically produced goods that are exported free of excise taxes, a practice used by the wine industry for years to the envy of other industries paying excise taxes (see 1708090043), was the biggest area of contention among comments filed in the docket.