Baltimore-based customs broker and international freight forwarder Samuel Shapiro & Company launched a Humanitarian Services Program recently to assist international relief organizations with logistical needs. Delivery of donated goods in places with weak infrastructure often results in logistical issues, and in such cases Shapiro will use its “industry connections to secure low-cost services with partnering agents, steamship lines, and truckers,” it said. Its first project involved shipment of donated insulation panels to Word of Life Fellowship’s dining hall in Honduras.
Farrow Group announced its acquisition of Kitchener, Canada-based customs broker W.Pickett & Bros. Feb. 4. The operations and staff of Pickett will be rolled into the infrastructure of Russell A. Farrow Limited. Farrow Group is the largest privately owned customs broker in Canada, and has offices in the northern U.S. and Los Angeles.
CBP issued a Jan. 31 directive to the agency's field offices about the processing and reporting of quota-class merchandise. The directive specifically provides information on determining the time of presentation of the entry summary, which establishes quota priority and status, it said. The directive points to the regulations from 19 CFR Sections 132, 141, and 24 to give guidance on the reporting of quota-class merchandise.
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International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Jan. 28-Feb. 1 in case they were missed.
Trade associations focused on customs and other importer issues spent relatively little in Q4 of 2012, according to public lobbying records. Several groups that are heavily involved in policy-making for customs issues don't spend nearly as much as some of the major companies that are involved in the issues, the records show. For instance, the American Association for Exporters and Importers (AAEI) and the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA) combined spent less than $10,000 for lobbying in Q4, the records show. Lobbying toward improved enforcement for antidumping/countervailing duties (AD/CVD) was among the issues that gained in attention, the filings show.
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America's board of directors recently approved 28 new members, the NCBFAA said in a notice on its website. New members include:
Feb. 5 NCBFAA webinar on How to Make Proper & Effective Voluntary Self-Disclosures to Export Violations, 1 p.m. -- http://bit.ly/119XMjS Feb. 5-7 AAPA Latin American & Caribbean Executive Management Conference, Merida, Mexico -- http://www.aapa-ports.org/Programs/seminarschedule.cfm?itemnumber=18598
CBP posted updated details on how to apply to participate in its reconciliation prototype and the necessary requirements for providing a copy of a reconciliation rider to continuous bond. The agency said if a Reconciliation "participant changes their continuous bond, copies of the replacement continuous bond, as well as a copy of the new bond rider need to be provided to the HQ Reconciliation team" and that "CBP has advised that failure to provide the Reconciliation rider may lead to insufficiency of the continuous importer bond." CBP said it would immediately render any continuous importer bond insufficient when that bond is being used in conjunction with Reconciliation entries but the required Reconciliation rider has not been provided to CBP.
CBP provided a list of various Trade Transformation goals the agency is working toward in 2013. The list was part of a CBP document outlining the agencies 2012 accomplishments on Trade Transformation.