Legislation aimed at changing FTC procedures and processes, prohibiting companies from gagging negative online customer reviews, preventing the use of illegal software by ticket brokers and protecting the rights of amateur radio operators will be the focus of a two-day markup by the House Commerce Committee. It will convene Wednesday at 5 p.m. for opening statements and reconvene Thursday at 10 a.m., in 2123 Rayburn. The committee will consider four bills, which were advanced June 9 by the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee. They include the FTC Process and Transparency Reform Act (HR-5510), which would make numerous changes to FTC enforcement actions, reviews and other procedures. Democratic members have slammed some changes, which they describe as deregulatory (see 1605240042 and 1606080052). The subcommittee also approved two bipartisan bills that will be considered by the full committee: the Consumer Review Fairness Act (HR-5111), which would bar companies' from including clauses in their terms of service that would prevent consumers from publishing critical online reviews, and the Better On-line Ticket Sales Act (HR-5104), which would bar use of software that buys up large amounts of event tickets and resells them at higher prices. The full committee will also consider the bipartisan Amateur Radio Parity Act (HR-1301), which was approved by the House Communications Subcommittee in February (see 1602110050). The bill would require the FCC to adopt new rules to ensure that amateur radio operators could use their equipment in deed-restricted communities.
Legislation aimed at changing FTC procedures and processes, prohibiting companies from gagging negative online customer reviews, preventing the use of illegal software by ticket brokers and protecting the rights of amateur radio operators will be the focus of a two-day markup by the House Commerce Committee. It will convene Wednesday at 5 p.m. for opening statements and reconvene Thursday at 10 a.m., in 2123 Rayburn. The committee will consider four bills, which were advanced June 9 by the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee. They include the FTC Process and Transparency Reform Act (HR-5510), which would make numerous changes to FTC enforcement actions, reviews and other procedures. Democratic members have slammed some changes, which they describe as deregulatory (see 1605240042 and 1606080052). The subcommittee also approved two bipartisan bills that will be considered by the full committee: the Consumer Review Fairness Act (HR-5111), which would bar companies' from including clauses in their terms of service that would prevent consumers from publishing critical online reviews, and the Better On-line Ticket Sales Act (HR-5104), which would bar use of software that buys up large amounts of event tickets and resells them at higher prices. The full committee will also consider the bipartisan Amateur Radio Parity Act (HR-1301), which was approved by the House Communications Subcommittee in February (see 1602110050). The bill would require the FCC to adopt new rules to ensure that amateur radio operators could use their equipment in deed-restricted communities.
A wide range of trade associations called on the Obama administration to request a re-examination of the law that requires 100 percent scanning on U.S.-bound maritime cargo containers, in a June 20 letter (here) to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson. DHS recently notified Congress that it again needs a two-year delay in the deadline to implement the requirement (see 1605310028). The industry signatories, made up of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, the National Retail Federation, the American Apparel and Footwear Association and 67 other organizations, also expressed support for extending the implementation deadline.
CBP and the Treasury Department decided against a raise to customs users fees based on the Consumer Price Index, CBP said in the June 15 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 50, No. 24) (here). A surface transportation funding bill signed into law last year (see 1512070011) provided for an increase to fees, including the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and broker permit fees, based on the Consumer Price Index. The law allowed for Treasury and CBP to decline to raise the fees if the yearly CPI increased by less than one percent from fiscal year 2014, which was the case. CBP and Treasury may next increase the fees at the beginning of the next fiscal year, or Oct. 1, it said. "CBP is currently developing a rulemaking document which will be published in the Federal Register that will implement" the fee adjustment requirements and "will include the methodology for determining the parameters" for whether a fee adjustment "is necessary as well as the timing of any fee adjustment announcements and effective dates," CBP said.
The move to ACE for the vast majority of Food and Drug Administration entries and entry summaries went without major complications, the FDA and customs brokers said. "We are very pleased that a lot of brokers have fully embraced the transition to ACE" and "FDA’s times for processing entries have actually decreased in ACE," Doug Stearn, director of the FDA’s Office of Enforcement and Import Operations, said in an email. Electronic filing of FDA entries and entry summaries under entry types 01, 03, 06, 11, 23, 51 and 52 was required in ACE as of June 15, though the agencies said they would allow for some leeway for filers using the old system (see 1606100012). Those seven entry types account for some 90 percent of entries that FDA sees (see 1605270002). CBP didn't comment.
The October customs broker’s license examination is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 5, CBP said in a notice (here). While usually scheduled for the first Monday in October, the first Monday coincides with the observance of the religious holiday of Rosh Hashanah, CBP said. The exam typically consists of 80 multiple-choice questions, with a score of 75 percent required to pass.
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America will petition the Federal Maritime Commission over detention and demurrage fees related to port congestion, the association said in an email to members. The NCBFAA, along with other organizations, plans to make an official filing with the agency and seeks "actual instances of these unfair charges and is asking members who have experienced such, or whose customers have been so victimized, to share them for inclusion in the petition," the NCBFAA said. The FMC recently said it has not received any official complaints on the subject yet (see 1604150026), now more than a year after the FMC released a report on the fees (see 1504140014).
There remains insufficient rationale behind a Department of Energy proposal to require filing of “certifications of admissibility” in ACE at time of entry for products subject to energy efficiency standards, a group of trade associations told the DOE in June 10 comments (here). The notice "seems to indicate that DOE is planning to continue down the same misguided path to further regulate importers who are already compliant with DOE’s regulations for no definable purpose and with no achievable outcome," the groups said. The DOE reopened the comment period on the proposal after industry members voiced a wide range of concerns about the plan (see 1605130022).
CBP and Food and Drug Administration officials outlined transition procedures for the June 15 ACE mandatory use date for most FDA cargo release and entry summary submissions, during a June 9 webinar conducted by the agencies and the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. CBP will on June 15 begin rejecting ACE entries that are flagged for FDA but are not accompanied by partner government agency (PGA) data, a CBP official said. However, the legacy ACE remains online and available as a fallback until July 23, and CBP will handle ACS filers on a “case-by-case basis” until that date, sending error messages and reaching out to non-ACE filers to get them aboard, he said. As CBP has previously said (see 1605270002), the agency will shut off ACS on July 23 and filers will “no longer have the ACS alternative,” the official said.
ARLINGTON, Va. -- CBP plans to reach out to importers and customs brokers over the next year to resolve uncertainty in the trade community over a recent uptick in import bans on goods produced by forced labor, Brenda Smith, CBP executive assistant commissioner for trade, said at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference. Importers of products from countries or industries that have had “risks in the past around forced labor need to understand what we’re looking for,” Smith said June 6. Over the next four to 12 months, CBP will sit down with the trade community to “understand what you need to know to make sure you are compliant with the law,” she said. After not having issued any in more than a decade, CBP has already issued several withhold release orders (see 1603310034) in the months since the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 removed an exemption from bans on goods produced by forced labor (see 1603010043).