RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Both the government and customs brokers will need to keep agile in light of the fast-moving changes in the world of international trade, said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner-trade at CBP. "The relationship between the government and private sector is very much facilitated by the role of the customs broker," Smith said during a May 2 interview at that National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference. "I believe those that do international trade are helped by the knowledge and expertise of customs brokers. I think very often there is a financial function that customs brokers can also perform for the private sector. For CBP, I think, they help educate around requirements and we believe that's a very valuable function."
Amy Magnus has been named president of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, said A.N. Deringer, where Magnus is director-customs affairs and compliance, in an emailed news release. Magnus, most recently vice president of the NCBFAA, succeeds Geoff Powell in the role.
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Customs brokers should be prepared for an increased number of audit surveys, said Tom Jesukiewicz, CBP field director, regulatory audit, in the Long Beach Field Office, while speaking at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference May 1. "There will be a lot more broker surveys this year, I can guarantee you that." Audit surveys aren't actual surveys but are questionnaires that allow CBP to probe business processes related to potential problems. CBP has "ranked" all the customs brokers, and uses that ranking when deciding who to survey, Jesukiewicz said. "The survey is not random, unlike sampling," he said. "Somebody has an issue or pointed something out" and the survey is used to find whether the "supposition is even in the ballpark," he said. If it's pretty clear there's a problem, CBP will do an audit, whereas the audit surveys are used to tell the recipient "you're in an area that's a potential risk" and that "someone flagged you for this." Based on that "walk-through of transactions and the information that we get, we may or may not open an audit," he said.
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- Customs brokers should be prepared for an increased number of audit surveys, said Tom Jesukiewicz, CBP field director, regulatory audit, in the Long Beach Field Office, while speaking at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference May 1. "There will be a lot more broker surveys this year, I can guarantee you that." Audit surveys aren't actual surveys but are questionnaires that allow CBP to probe business processes related to potential problems. CBP has "ranked" all the customs brokers, and uses that ranking when deciding who to survey, Jesukiewicz said. "The survey is not random, unlike sampling," he said. "Somebody has an issue or pointed something out" and the survey is used to find whether the "supposition is even in the ballpark," he said. If it's pretty clear there's a problem, CBP will do an audit, whereas the audit surveys are used to tell the recipient "you're in an area that's a potential risk" and that "someone flagged you for this." Based on that "walk-through of transactions and the information that we get, we may or may not open an audit," he said.
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- The Census Bureau expects to issue proposed rules for routed export transactions by the fall, said Omari Wooden, assistant division chief, International Trade Management Division at Census. Census is in the process of going through many issues raised by industry in comments to the agency (see 1712070039), Wooden said at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference on May 1. "We are the government, so instead of months, we give you seasons, so probably sometime in the fall we're hopeful to come out with something," he said.
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- The Census Bureau expects to issue proposed rules for routed export transactions by the fall, said Omari Wooden, assistant division chief, International Trade Management Division at Census. Census is in the process of going through many issues raised by industry in comments to the agency, Wooden said at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference on May 1. "We are the government, so instead of months, we give you seasons, so probably sometime in the fall we're hopeful to come out with something," he said.
Extended exemptions from Section 232 tariffs on aluminum and steel left some countries and importers relieved, but others uncertain as to what is around the corner on June 1. Announced the evening of April 30 just hours before the deadline, the proclamations on steel and aluminum announce full, if undefined, exemptions for Argentina, Brazil and Australia, the final details of a steel exemption for South Korea, and a delay until the beginning of June 1 for Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
RANCHO MIRAGE, California -- Much of the $34 million in "additional money earmarked for ACE" within the recent omnibus government funding bill is already "planned out," said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and conveyance security and controls, while speaking at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference on May 1. "That money was to be allocated for new development or enhancements in the ACE process," he said. CBP has a priority list, he said. Among the factors for the priority list was a list of requests provided to CBP from the NCBFAA.
RANCHO MIRAGE, California -- Much of the $34 million in "additional money earmarked for ACE" within the recent omnibus government funding bill is already "planned out," said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and conveyance security and controls, while speaking at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual conference on May 1. "That money was to be allocated for new development or enhancements in the ACE process," he said. CBP has a priority list, he said. Among the factors for the priority list was a list of requests provided to CBP from the NCBFAA (see 1802200043).
Though a new accounting class code will be implemented April 28 in ACE for duties on coffee imported into Puerto Rico, shipments from the continental U.S. to Puerto Rico, which are still subject to the duties, will continue to be presented as non-Automated Broker Interface entry summaries on Customs Form 7501, CBP said in a CSMS message. The duties, in effect since the 1930s, cover coffee imports into Puerto Rico under Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) heading 0901 and subheadings 2101.11-2101.12, 2202.99.28 and 2202.99.90, and amount to $2.50 per pound on regular coffee and $1.25 per dutiable pound on coffee preparations, CBP says on its website. The issue of filing domestic shipments came up during CBP’s April 26 biweekly ACE call. The new accounting class code is only meant to automate imports of coffee from foreign countries, which have up to now been filed non-ABI, a CBP official said. The automation will allow CBP to pull out and calculate the Puerto Rico coffee duty separate from regular import tariffs, she said.