Cellphone case maker OtterBox paid $4.3 million to settle a whistleblower suit brought by a customs broker and former employee that alleged the company failed to account for the value of assists when it paid customs duties, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado on April 21. The broker, Bonnie Jimenez, alleged that her former employer knowingly disregarded the value of engineering work and molds on entry documentation it submitted between 2006 and 2011. The government agreed, and decided to intervene on her behalf. Jimenez will receive $830,000 out of the settlement for her trouble. OtterBox did not admit guilt as part of the settlement, and a company spokesman later denied the charges in the complaint.
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America posted some of the presentations given during the group's annual conference April. 7-10. The presentations include:
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) stressed the importance of member engagement in a post on the NCBFAA website, encouraging brokers to get active and help to guide CBP as it looks to revise customs broker permitting regulations. CBP is considering using a more national permitting structure for brokers, rather than the current district structure that is based on geographic regions. Although "CBP has confirmed that they are not looking into making any changes in the immediate future" the NCBFAA "wants to be proactive and begin discussions now to allow comments, ideas and concerns from all its members to be received and reviewed," it said. "The NCBFAA has to manage this process methodically, with input from all to ensure our proposal on 'permitting' maintains the professionalism that our customers and government agencies demand."
"Would it be possible to get Professor Sweeney?” asked a panelist at the White House’s March 17 workshop on big data at New York University (WID March 19 p2). An audience member had just asked a question about how individuals -- both professional and nefarious -- could access encrypted data. The panel turned to recently-appointed FTC Chief Technologist Latanya Sweeney, data anonymity researcher on leave from Harvard University, who was merely an observing audience member. “I don’t want to put her on the spot,” said the panelist, Microsoft Principal Researcher Kate Crawford. “But Latanya Sweeney has written many papers on precisely how people get access to big data."
Would it be possible to get Professor Sweeney?” asked a panelist at the White House’s March 17 workshop on big data at New York University. An audience member had just asked a question about how individuals -- both professional and nefarious -- could access encrypted data. The panel turned to recently appointed FTC Chief Technologist Latanya Sweeney, data anonymity researcher on leave from Harvard University, who was merely an observing audience member. “I don’t want to put her on the spot,” said the panelist, Microsoft Principal Researcher Kate Crawford. “But Latanya Sweeney has written many papers on precisely how people get access to big data."
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NCBFAA Broker Known Importer Program Has Benefits, Also Liability for Customs Brokers, Say Panelists
LAS VEGAS -- The Broker-Known Importer Program will at least start as an industry initiative because of restrictive rules on how CBP can launch official pilot programs, said Alan Klestadt during a panel discussion April 9 at the annual conference of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA). The association last year suggested that CBP adopt the program, which is meant to leverage some basic information brokers collect about their clients. The NCBFAA is coming up with the verification criteria and will open the program up to both association and non-association participants. In return, the NCBFAA is asking CBP to create an entry flag and incentivize importer participation. Klestadt says the NCBFAA wants CBP will conduct a survey 14 months into the program to see how it’s working. Eventually, the NCBFAA hopes CBP will formalize the program through regulations or a policy document.
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Rajiv Shah vowed on April 11 to continue to collaborate with World Trade Organization (WTO) donors to help developing countries implement the WTO trade facilitation agreement. The agreement, brokered in December, aims to expedite and simplify customs procedure globally (see 13120922).
LAS VEGAS -- The place for Remote Location Filing within the virtual Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is yet to be decided at this point, said Brenda Brockman Smith, executive director of the ACE business office at CBP. Smith, who spoke at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference on April 9, also said she expects the agency to add some Food and Drug Administration (FDA) elements to the system before CBP begins to require all trade filing in ACE.
LAS VEGAS -- As part of its effort to reduce air transit times, the International Air Transport Association will be developing new cargo standards for ground handlers, said Warren Jones, president-Cargo Network Services (CNS) at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference on April 8. Jones said the effort to have cargo spend less time waiting on the ground, as well as the ongoing e-Air Waybill program, will help the air cargo group meet its goal of cutting the current six-and-a-half day average timeframe for air shipments by 48 hours before 2020. On the domestic side, the development of Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) is progressing and will prove to be a boon to the forwarding industry, said industry officials.