Disagreements whether a proposed permanent ban on Internet access taxes should have been included in customs reauthorization legislation have left the bill stalled in the Senate and fogged up the prospect for quick movement of the trade legislation on the Senate floor. Because that language was inserted into the act’s conference report after being omitted from the original customs bills passed by the House and Senate, it could be subject to a point of order, which supporters of the ban would need 60 votes to waive, said a lobbyist and congressional staffer. The House passed the bill, Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (HR-644), Dec. 11, but the Senate hasn't scheduled a vote on the bill.
Disagreements over whether a proposed permanent ban on Internet access taxes should have been included in customs reauthorization legislation have left the bill stalled in the Senate and fogged up the prospect for quick movement of the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015” to a vote on the Senate floor. Because that language was inserted into the act’s conference report after being omitted from the original customs bills passed by the House and Senate, it could be subject to a point of order, which supporters of the ban would need 60 votes to waive, said a lobbyist and Congressional staffer. The House passed the bill on Dec. 11, but the Senate has yet to schedule a vote on the bill.
Akin Gump hired Tyson Smith, previously a consultant with TradeMoves, as a customs and international trade specialist in the Washington office, the law firm said (here). Smith is a licensed customs broker and will work with Akin Gump clients on tariff classification, valuation and binding rulings, among other things, the firm said.
Provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that may force the U.S. to make major changes to how it assesses the merchandise processing fee (MPF) is getting attention on Capitol Hill, a Congressional staffer said. Article 2.15 of the recently agreed text, which still requires approval from Congress, provides that "no party shall levy fees and charges on or in connection with importation or exportation on an ad valorem basis." MPF, which is currently charged at an ad valorem rate of 0.3464% on formal entries, with per entry minimums and maximums, would have to be converted into a flat fee in order to comply, said one staffer.
CBP is working on a new Form 3461 for filing “walk-up” entries and requests for release during broker or Automated Commercial Environment system outages, said the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America in an update. Current downtime procedures will continue to apply after the ACE transition, with CBP accepting either the new Form 3461 or a cover sheet that includes the same information, said the agency, according to the NCBFAA.
The 2016 annual user fee of $138 for each customs broker district permit and national permit held by an individual, partnership, association, or corporation is due by Feb. 26, said CBP in a notice (here). According to 19 CFR 111.96(c), this user fee is payable for each calendar year at the port through which the broker was issued a permit or at a port referred to in 19 CFR 111.19(c) in the case of a national permit. Note that 19 CFR 111.96(c) also states that if a broker fails to pay the annual user fee by the published due date, the appropriate port director will notify the broker in writing of the failure to pay and will revoke the permit to operate. That notice will constitute revocation of the permit. CBP anticipates "that for subsequent years, the annual user fee for customs brokers will be due on the last business day of February of each year," it said.
The Food and Drug Administration is making no changes at the present time to the data elements it requires for filing in its Automated Commercial Environment pilot, said Domenic Veneziano, director of FDA’s import division, in response to our inquiry Nov. 11. The data elements outlined in FDA’s current supplemental guide are “critical” in admissibility decisions, allowing the agency to more timely process releases, he said at a webinar hosted by Integration Point the previous day. “The only change, at this time, to the pilot is the need to complete and submission of the template,” Veneziano said, referring to FDA’s decision to end a pilot requirement that the agency prevalidate shipment data before it is filed in ACE (see 1512080075).
Lawmakers finished up work on a conference version of long-debated customs reauthorization legislation that combines the underlying concepts of the Senate- and House-proposed customs bills, said Conference Committee members on Dec. 9 (here). Notably, the compromise legislation (here) would impose the ENFORCE Act's firm deadlines on CBP to investigate claims of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion, and would require new regulations on customs broker identification of importers, under threat of penalty. A new provision in the legislation -- absent from either chamber's original bill -- would hold CBP to stricter deadlines for reliquidating entries. The bill could go to a vote on the House floor as early as Dec. 11, a congressional staffer said. The lawmakers also released a summary (here) and joint explanatory statement (here) on the bill's provisions.
There’s still space for importers, customs brokers and software developers that want to participate in pilots of Environmental Protection Agency filing in the Automated Commercial Environment, said Roy Chaudet of EPA’s Office of Information Collection during a webinar held with CBP on Dec. 8. Among pilots that are limited to nine participants, tests for imports of non-road vehicles and engines and pesticide notices of arrival currently have around two each, and a pilot on hazardous waste exporters has four, said Chaudet. Ongoing pilots with unlimited participation include imports of on-road vehicles and engines and ozone depleting substances.
The Food and Drug Administration is making changes to processes for participation in its Automated Commercial Environment filing pilot and modifying “the data that are required at the time of entry for admissibility,” said CBP in a CSMS message dated Dec. 9 (here). Effective immediately, FDA has removed the requirement for submitting a data element “template” for pre-validation, although it will still provide the template to assist filers and will “provide guidance and support” to “answer any questions,” said the message.