CBP posted its agenda (here) and some other agency documents for the upcoming Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting on July 27 in Boston. Among the posted items are recommendations for coming antidumping/countervailing duties evasions enforcement regulations from the COAC AD/CVD Working Group (here). That working group will recommend new CBP rules requiring customs brokers to report possible AD/CVD evasion, among other things, it said. The new enforcement regulations are a result of the customs reauthorization law's AD/CVD provisions, known as the ENFORCE Act, that take effect Aug. 22 (see 1602230080).
Concerns over potential technical and procedural issues related to the deployment of as-yet-unproven quota systems in ACE are leaving customs brokers uncertain on the eve of the July 23 ACE deadline for most remaining entry types, said brokers in interviews. A lack of real world testing and changes to quota business practices means some brokers aren’t entirely sure what’s going to happen after the deadline. The uncertainty is compounded by the simultaneous decommissioning of legacy Automated Commercial System, which leaves filers without a fallback that has been particularly valuable in the truck environment.
The Minh Phu Group will be exempt from antidumping duties on frozen warmwater shrimp from Vietnam (A-552-802) beginning on July 18, 2016, the Commerce Department said in a notice (here). Starting on that date, subject merchandise produced and exported by Minh Phu Group and its affiliates will no longer be subject to suspension of liquidation and cash deposit requirements under the Vietnam shrimp order, and importers of subject merchandise from Minh Phu will no longer be subject to AD duty assessments calculated in annual administrative reviews. The partial revocation implements a deal reached with Vietnam to settle a dispute over U.S. antidumping duties at the World Trade Organization (see 1607180043).
CBP “has procedures in place to address system issues and communicate with users” in the event of ACE system slowdowns or outages beginning on July 23, “just as we’ve had with ACS,” which will no longer be available for most filing after that date, CBP said in an update to transition procedures for the upcoming deadline (here). “Port downtime or workaround procedures will be implemented as determined by the Office of Field Operations, and guidance to the trade community will be timely communicated via the Cargo Systems Messaging Service (CSMS),” it said. “Filers should continue to work with the local port office regarding the movement of goods.”
The legacy Automated Commercial System should remain available for filers following the July 23 mandatory use date for most remaining entry types in ACE, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in a letter to CBP dated July 14 (here). Though CBP said it will begin decommissioning ACS on July 23 and the system will be unavailable as a backup (see 1605270002), ACS should remain available in cases of delays resulting from down time, slow processing or software issues, because costs to the trade community would be too great without the ACS fallback option, the NCBFAA said.
U.S. port congestion might be alleviated through creating a supply chain data sharing platform, instituting revolving labor shifts, and potentially implementing a terminal appointment system, industry groups said in response to the Commerce Department’s request for comments on its “21st Century Port Competitiveness Initiative." The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said the federal government should prioritize information sharing to optimize supply chain efficiency. “Data is the new infrastructure,” NCBFAA Vice President of International Transportation Richard Roche said in comments to Commerce (here). “This should be a key area of focus, while keeping security as top priority. Only vetted partners should be able to access, and only those fields specific to their business.” Data enhancements could allow terminals to better forecast orders and offload times, and give more advanced notice of container availability, Roche said.
Filers of the revised Form 5106 that don't include Social Security or passport numbers for the company officers would risk delayed cargo and refund processing, CBP said in information recently submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). While considered optional, "the absence of other reportable data about companies or individuals will affect CBP’s ability to fully understand the level of risk on subsequent transactions, and could result in the delay of the release of cargo or the delay in the processing [of] a refund," CBP said in list of responses to public comments it filing with OIRA (here). CBP is considering adding several new data fields to the form (see 1507240009).
The use of ACE by the Environmental Protection Agency will likely become mandatory in the "fall time frame at the earliest," Roy Chaudet of EPA said during a July 7 webinar about Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) and the move to ACE. That agency is running several pilots including for non-road vehicle imports and pesticide notices of arrival, ozone-depleting substances and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) submissions (see 1606090020). "In terms of our pilots ending and our reporting requirements put in place, those will all be later this year," he said.
The addition of customs brokers and transportation intermediaries to a Commerce Department trusted trader program for seafood imports would not make much sense, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in recently filed comments (here). "Both lack the necessary knowledge of or control over the chain of custody of imported fish and fish products," the NCBFAA said. The NCBFAA filed the comments in response to a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) request for public input on the development of a trusted trader program for seafood imports (see 1604280024).
CBP is considering an expansion to the definition of "importer" under Importer Security Filing (ISF) regulations, the agency said in a notice (here). The proposed changes are meant "to ensure that the party that has the best access to the required information will be the party that is responsible for filing the ISF," the agency said. The proposed changes would "simply shift the legal responsibility in some cases for filing the ISF from one party to another for a subset of the total cargo," though "in the vast majority of cases, there will be no change in who submits the data," CBP said. Comments are due Sept. 6.