The American Association of Exporters and Importers is seeking an extension of the deadline for comments on the Food and Drug Administration’s ACE filing procedures, it said in a letter to the agency dated Aug. 9 (here). Commending FDA for issuing a proposed rule June 30 that outlines the agency’s newly mandatory ACE requirements (see 1606300020), AAEI nonetheless said the trade community needs more time to respond. Importers are still managing the impact of FDA’s ACE deadline of June 15 and CBP’s July 23 deadline for quota, and haven’t had the time to develop complete responses to FDA’s notice, it said. Industry also needs more time to discuss new data elements required by FDA with service providers like customs brokers and express carriers, the letter said. AAEI requested another 60 days to respond to FDA’s proposed rule. Comments are currently due Aug. 30.
Over 100 trade organizations doubled down on a calls for the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to start early discussions on either a contract extension or a new West Coast ports contract, as the current one is set to expire in 2019. In a letter to PMA and ILWU (here), the groups say a contract extension is vital to ensure stability and predictability at West Coast ports, and call for both parties to make sure that negotiations don’t spur additional port disruptions, advocating the maintenance of arbitration mechanisms in the existing contract throughout negotiations, even if the current contract expires before reaching a new deal. “We fully believe that agreeing early to a contract extension or a new long-term contract will provide the stability and predictability that is needed for global competitiveness that will benefit all stakeholders (labor, terminal operators, cargo owners, etc.) who rely on West Coast ports,” said the groups, which include the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, the American Association of Exporters and Importers, and the American Apparel & Footwear Association. A similar industry coalition sent a letter to PMA and ILWU in March also calling for an early start to West Coast port contract negotiations (see 1603160031).
More than 100 industry organizations, ranging from broker associations to textile manufacturers, directly appealed to President Barack Obama to reconsider his decision to defer approval of duty benefits for 27 travel goods imported from many countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (here). In a letter signed by groups including the Express Association of America, the U.S. Fashion Industry Association and the Pacific Coast Council of Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders, companies and industry associations called on Obama to decide to apply duty-free approvals for the goods “definitely no later” than Oct. 1, to boost development before GSP expires at the end of 2017. “Deferring a decision to make eligible all GSP countries for travel goods, which include backpacks, purses, suitcases, and laptop cases, creates business uncertainty and delays the investment that will create and support jobs in developing countries as well as jobs here at home," the letter said.
CBP is correcting a notice it issued on customs broker licenses revoked for failure to file the 2015 triennial status report and pay the applicable fee (here). The correction adds nine brokers to the list of licenses revoked, and removes three that were erroneously listed. CBP’s January notice revoked hundreds of licenses (see 1601050010).
U.S. shippers and forwarders are seizing new opportunities created through recently loosened trade restrictions between the U.S. and Cuba, yet U.S. export activities frequently fall short of firms’ expectations as companies often encounter uncertain and changeable terms of bilateral engagement. In addition to navigating incongruous trade regulations across both countries, firms involved in exporting to Cuba must still avoid violating the U.S. trade embargo while cultivating Cuban buyers who commonly have spotty phone and internet access, according to several private sector officials directly engaged in U.S.-Cuba trade regulations.
ACE filers continue to face downtime and slowdown issues worse than those encountered in the legacy Automated Commercial System, and several functionalities essential to the trade community are still unavailable, including some that were available in the legacy system before it was mostly shut down July 23, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a position paper (here). “Much remains to be done” before the implementation of ACE can be declared a success, with performance of some aspects of the new electronic filing regime still lagging behind that of the ACS, it said.
The National Marine Fisheries Service issued a final rule (here) that will consolidate existing import, export and re-export permits for filing in CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment. Under the new regulations, currently separate permits and documentation for the Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) and the Highly Migratory Species International Trade Permit (HMS ITP) programs must be filed in ACE under a single International Fisheries Trade Permit (IFTP), via both data elements and scanned images. Non-resident importers will have to go through a registered agent residing in the U.S. to obtain an IFTP. NMFS is also finalizing new permit requirements for seafood products regulated under the Tuna Tracking and Verification Program (TTVP), also under the consolidated IFTP procedures. The final rule takes effect Sept. 20.
CBP is “headed in the right direction” as it works to resolve ACE system performance issues causing some concern in the trade community, the agency’s chief information officer, Phil Landfried, said at the July 27 meeting of the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC). The agency is “not at 100 percent,” and “probably never will be,” but it’s “trying to get as close” as possible, he said. CBP will be deploying a performance dashboard “over the next couple of days” on its website, giving filers a way to see whether any issues they’re experiencing are systemwide, Landfried said. “If you’re seeing a slow response and we’re reporting green” on a red-yellow-green scale “then obviously there’s a disconnect there, and we should be able to address those right away.”
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) did not include a previously mentioned draft recommendation for new antidumping/countervailing duty evasion reporting requirements for customs brokers within recommendations submitted to CBP during its July 27 meeting in Boston. A draft list of COAC recommendations from the COAC AD/CVD Working Group (see 1607260019) recommended that CBP "consider adding a regulatory provision to enable and require customs brokers to report evidence and/or incidents of evasion." That recommendation wasn't mentioned during the COAC meeting, though the working group did recommend continued outreach to customs brokers and the trade industry on the definition of evasion as described in the customs reauthorization law's AD/CVD provisions, known as the ENFORCE Act, that take effect next month (see 1602230080).
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) Trade Modernization Subcommittee plans to begin discussions with the CBP Office of Regulations and Rulings "to review the ruling and decision making process," said Lenny Feldman, a lawyer with Sandler Travis who co-chairs the subcommittee. The goal will be to provide "recommendations to facilitate these procedures," Feldman said during the July 27 COAC meeting in Boston. Following up on the previous COAC meeting in April, when that subcommittee offered recommendations on updating customs broker regulations (see 1604270023), CBP is "on track" to provide "formal comments" by Aug. 12, said Jerry Malmo, director of CBP's Commercial Enforcement Division.