House and Senate lawmakers aim to send a long-awaited customs reauthorization bill to President Barack Obama by the end of this week, said members of Congressional Conference Committee during a Dec. 7 public meeting. While congressional officials said language from the Senate-introduced ENFORCE Act is likely to make it in the bill’s final conference report, an industry lobbyist remains skeptical. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., joined fellow Democratic conferee Sen. Ron Wyden, Ore. in lauding ENFORCE provisions, which both said will make duty evasion much tougher for importers who might seek to undercut U.S. industry.
President Barack Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act into law on Dec. 4, the White House, said (here). The law (here), which authorizes budgetary resources for surface transportation programs for fiscal years 2016-2020, includes an increase to customs users fees to help pay for the programs. Among the fees set to increase are the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and broker permit fees. The fee changes will be based on the Consumer Price Index and the first adjustment will occur April 1 (see 1512040024).
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, International Wood Products Association and American Association of Exporters and Importers were among groups that asked House and Senate Conferees in a Dec. 3 letter (here) to ditch the provisions of the ENFORCE Act and instead include the PROTECT Act's antidumping/countervailing duty language within a final bill. A final bill may come as soon as this week as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., included "Possible Consideration of the Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 644 - Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015" within his weekly schedule (here). The Conference Committee also scheduled a public meeting for Dec. 7 (here).
Congress voted to approve surface transportation reauthorization legislation that would increase customs user fees, including the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and broker permit fees, on Dec. 3. The bill provides funding for federal highway and other transportation projects through 2020. The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (here), which also includes reauthorization for the Export-Import Bank, will next go to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., appointed three former House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairmen to complete customs reauthorization legislation, Ryan said (here). The appointments followed a House vote on Dec. 1 that approved proceeding with a conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the customs bills (here). Ryan named Reps. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio and Dave Reichert, R-Wash., to represent the House Republicans in the conference committee. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., chose Reps. Sandy Levin, D-Mich., and Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., as the House Democrats on the committee, Pelosi said (here).
FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said she disagrees the agency has been “dramatically shoved aside” with the FCC’s adoption of the open Internet order to halt ISPs from blocking or degrading site services. “It’s important to note how limited the real world impact of this restriction of the FTC’s jurisdiction will be,” she said Thursday at a Georgetown University Law School’s Center on Privacy and Technology event on both agencies enforcing privacy regulations. But Jeff Brueggeman, AT&T vice president-global public policy, said on a later panel the industry is concerned about potential inconsistent enforcement actions by the two agencies.
FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said she disagrees the agency has been “dramatically shoved aside” with the FCC’s adoption of the open Internet order to halt ISPs from blocking or degrading site services. “It’s important to note how limited the real world impact of this restriction of the FTC’s jurisdiction will be,” she said Thursday at a Georgetown University Law School’s Center on Privacy and Technology event on both agencies enforcing privacy regulations. But Jeff Brueggeman, AT&T vice president-global public policy, said on a later panel the industry is concerned about potential inconsistent enforcement actions by the two agencies.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its Fall 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (here). The agenda includes a new rulemaking on the modernization of customs broker regulations (here). A source of discussion for several years now, the inclusion of the rulemaking for broker regulations marks a step toward formal action. CBP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith recently said a proposed rule on Part 111 may face some delay due the Automated Commercial Environment, which is seen as a priority (see 1511040068). The agenda mentions June of 2016 as a target date for the proposed rulemaking.
The elimination of "hybrid" customs filings that are both in paper form and electronic may force some companies to revert to paper filing, a worrisome prospect that "could severely impact the economy," said UPS in comments to CBP (here). Any "process that requires a full paper submission seems to contrast" with CBP's automation goal, the company said." Neither CBP, the [Partner Government Agencies] nor the Trade have the human capital to return to such an antiquated process," it said. The company's comments were in response to CBP's interim final rule and proposal that outlined the agencies plans to make the Automated Commercial Environment mandatory and wind down the Automated Commercial System (see 1510090017).
A second protest cannot be filed on an entry after denial of the first, even if filed by a different person, said the Court of International Trade on Nov. 9 as it dismissed an importer’s lawsuit challenging the valuation of two entries of pencils (here). Design International Group had already had two protests on the two entries denied on when it filed a third protest on the two entries, still within the 180 day time limit for protest filing. Though 19 USC 1514(c)(1)(D) generally allows only one protest for each entry of merchandise, Design International cited an exception for “separate protests filed by different authorized persons,” noting the first two protests were filed by its customs broker, while the third was filed by its attorney. CIT, citing previous case law, ruled that the exception for different authorized persons does is not applicable when the first protest has already been denied. According to the court, allowing additional protests when a protest has already been denied would allow an unending series of protests, each protesting the previous denial.