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The Court of International Trade on Dec. 26 slapped yet more penalties on a Laredo-based customs broker whose violations were already the subject of another civil suit and a criminal case. The court ordered Alejandro Santos to pay $30,000 for misclassifying two shipments of pesticides and failing to file the notice of arrival required by the Environmental Protection Agency. The court had already ordered $19,000 in penalties against Santos in December 2012 for unrelated violations of customs laws. Santos also faces prison time after pleading guilty in May to a criminal customs case in the Southern Texas District Court.
Settlement Reached on Customs Broker Exam Lawsuit, Test Taker to Receive Passing Grade for 2011 Exam
An aspiring customs broker will receive a long-awaited passing grade for her customs exam after the Justice Department agreed to settle a lawsuit brought against CBP in the Court of International Trade, according to a recently filed settlement agreement. CBP will give Linh Pittman, who took the exam in Atlanta in 2011, "written confirmation that she received a passing grade on the customs broker licensing exam," the settlement agreement said. Pittman, who is represented by Jon Fee, a lawyer with Alston Bird, filed her initial appeal with CBP in 2012.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 16-20 in case they were missed.
The nomination of administration ally and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., for U.S. ambassador to China may not cause the disruption for trade agenda items that some fear, said industry leaders in recent days. The introduction of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation remains a primary Baucus priority, said a spokesman for the Senator. Baucus, Finance Committee ranking member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., brokered a TPA deal in mid-December that Baucus aims to continue to push at the outset of 2014, said the Baucus spokesman (see 13121717).
Pollsters and privacy experts were surprised that registered voters favored government intervention to protect online data security, in a survey (http://bit.ly/1cieCmA) released Friday by the Computer and Communications Industry Association, they said in interviews. One expert expected that Americans would be more concerned with data hacking, rather than the tracking of online behavior for advertising by companies. Privacy experts disagreed on whether Congress will legislate a data privacy bill in 2014, after Target had among the largest U.S. data breeches. (See separate report in this issue.)
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The phase-out of incandescent light bulbs -- which began in January 2012 with 100-watt lamps -- will be complete on New Year’s Day when 40-watt and 60-watt bulbs can no longer be brought into or manufactured in the U.S. But according to a survey commissioned by Lutron, two out of three Americans aren’t aware that the century-old light bulb they know is on the way out, and only 10 percent know about next-gen bulb options including compact fluorescents, halogens and LEDs.
The 2014 annual user fee of $138 for each customs broker permit and national permit held by an individual, partnership, association, or corporation is due by Feb. 21, said CBP in a notice. 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.
Data brokers “operate behind a veil of secrecy,” collecting and using consumer data for marketing purposes in ways “that are subject to far less statutory consumer protection,” concluded a yearlong data broker study Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., released as expected (WID Dec 18 p1) Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1bQgMnf). “Data brokers combine data points ... into startlingly detailed and intimate profiles of American consumers,” Rockefeller said. “Under current laws, we have no right to see these pictures of ourselves that these companies have created.” A committee aide said Rockefeller will “likely” follow the hearing with legislation aimed at bringing transparency to the data broker industry.