The Trump administration in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation will push for "disciplines on the use of customs brokers," for Canada and Mexico to raise their de minimis levels, and to eliminate the binational dispute settlement process for challenging duties, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in its renegotiation objectives released July 17 (here). Another objective is to provide for streamlined and expedited customs treatment for express shipments, including for shipments valued over the de minimis threshold.
CBP is extending the comment period to Aug. 14 on an existing information collection related to regulations on customs brokers. CBP proposes (here) to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the information collected but with an increase in the estimated burden hours associated with the collection, due to more applicants expected.
CBP is proposing to set procedures in its regulations for adjusting Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) fees for inflation (here). The inflation adjustments and fee limitations were required by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act, passed in 2015 (see 1512040024), which specifies that fees are to be adjusted every year on April 1. CBP determined no adjustments were necessary on April 1, 2016, and April 1, 2017. Affected fees include the merchandise processing fee, vessel and truck arrival fees and the customs broker permit user fee. Comments are due Aug. 16.
The Court of International Trade on July 13 found an importer negligently misclassified entries of bags for storing cold beverages, despite having consulted its customs broker as to the correct classification (here). Farhan Khan did not exercise reasonable care because he should have consulted other sources after receiving three conflicting suggestions from his broker, and improperly relied on his broker's opinion to classify related but different beverage bags, CIT said.
Agricultural trade could have a greater chance than other sectors in North America of being reshaped through NAFTA renegotiations, National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) lobbyist Jon Kent said July 11 during a webinar. “That’s, I think, where we’re most concerned about maintaining the status quo, and there’s a reasonable amount of contention between all three countries” party to the agreement, Kent said. Promoting free data flows will be another major issue of renegotiation, and the high-tech industry is likely to weigh in “very affirmatively” on the topic, but the U.S. will seek to adjust several parts of the agreement merely “around the edges,” he said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 3-7 in case they were missed.
The submission of documentation related to the importation of personal and household effects is customs business, and a company can’t submit the required form on behalf of its employees returning to the U.S., CBP said in a recent ruling (here). Reversing an earlier ruling letter it issued in April, CBP found that Form 3299, “Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles,” may only be completed by the employee, a customs broker or an individual serving as the employee’s authorized agent.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) suggested to the Federal Maritime Commission "a significant number of changes" to how non-vessel operating common carriers and ocean forwarders are regulated, the association said (here). The FMC on June 1 issued a notice of inquiry (here) seeking comments on its regulatory reform initiative (see 1705300046). NCBFAA recommended the FMC totally remove NVOCC rate tariffs from regulation since they “now exist only to preserve unnecessary jobs for tariff publishers or to provide a basis for unwary NVOCCs to become subject to FMC penalties for noncompliance.” The association also suggested that co-loading regulations be modified if not eliminated, that an FMC rule preventing forwarding fee discounts and waivers be eliminated, and that a requirement for the underlying shipper to be listed in the shipper box on the bill of lading be removed.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service on July 7 announced the availability (here) of a new guidance document for importers of meat, poultry, egg products and Siluriformes fish. The guidance is intended to help importers, customs brokers and official import inspection establishments understand and comply with FSIS regulatory requirements for imports. Comments on the guidance are due Sept. 5, though “FSIS recommends importers begin using it now” given that the document “reflects FSIS’ current position.”
A tuna importer’s request for drawback should be rejected because the importer exported the tuna from a different port, yet didn’t file required documentation to transport the tuna between ports under bond, CBP said in a recent ruling (here). For merchandise transported in-bond before export, Form 7512 or its electronic equivalent is part of the proof of exportation required on drawback claims, CBP said in ruling HQ H284687.