Hitachi Home Electronics (America) wants the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and strengthen a 42-year-old federal statute that bars CBP from dragging its feet on import duty protests, it said in a July 30 petition. Only the Supreme Court "can remedy the harm caused by the Federal Circuit's decision which affects all customs duty protests and, potentially, all imports into the United States," it said. "This case, containing no factual disputes, offers this Court a clean opportunity to examine the federal question of paramount importance raised in this case." Responses to Hitachi's Supreme Court request are due Aug. 31.
CBP will soon launch a pilot test of the Importer Self-Assessment Pre-Certification Program (ISAPC) that will allow CBP-certified customs brokers to screen and vet applicants to CBP’s ISA program, the agency said in a report on the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) Role of the Broker Subcommittee. The report was released ahead of the Aug. 15 COAC meeting in Seattle. According to CBP with ISAPC, eligible ISA applicants will be approved for the program in 90 to 120 days rather than 9 to 18 months. The CBP Role of the Broker report is (here).
CBP sought comments on a proposed amendment to its regulations that would add recordkeeping requirements to U.S. exports of rough diamonds and include additional information on requirements for rough diamond import and export. CBP is proposing to require any U.S. persons exporting from the U.S. a shipment of rough diamonds to retain a copy of the Kimberley Process Certificate accompanying each shipment for at least five years from the date of export and make the copy available for examination at the request of CBP, the agency said in a notice in the Federal Register Aug. 15. Comments on the proposals are due Oct. 15.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Court of International Trade’s February 2011 decision against a customs broker that sought to compel CBP to issue a ruling on its protests. In its decision, CIT had said customs broker Norman G. Jensen still had an administrative remedy in the form of accelerated disposition to force a protest ruling, so CIT had no subject matter jurisdiction for lack of exhaustion. CAFC agreed with CIT, saying Jensen should have requested an accelerated disposition of the protest with CBP and filed suit under 28 USC 1581(a) should the protest have been deemed denied, rather than filing suit under 28 USC 1581(i) before the protest was decided.
CBP said it and the Department of Commerce are planning a national webinar for customs brokers on aluminum extrusions AD/CVD cases in September. CBP mentioned the webinar in its Antidumping Countervailing Duty Subcommittee report for the upcoming Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) meeting on Aug. 15 in Seattle. CBP said it is actively looking at building an increase in the amount of product specific knowledge through greater outreach to industry experts and such meetings are "an opportunity to learn about specific allegations as well as industry trends and patterns while providing the trade with updated information on what CBP actions could be taken as part of bidirectional education."
CBP will modify its selection criteria and expand the participant pool for the a National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) test on ACE simplified entry capability, the agency said in a notice in the Federal Register Aug. 14. Simplified entry allows participants to file 12 required, and three optional data elements with CBP prior to arrival in the U.S. The ongoing initial phase of the test is only for air transportation mode and will run through Dec. 31, 2013. The changes to the pilot are effective Aug. 14, according to the notice. (FR 08/14)
Aug. 14 USA-ITA webinar on duty treatment for apparel imports, 2 p.m. ET https://www.usaita.com/index.php?option=com_civicrm&task=civicrm/event/info&Itemid=141&reset=1&id=23 (See 12071911)
CBP outlined possible regulatory alternatives being considered as part of its rewrite of broker regulations (19 CFR Part 111) during a webinar Aug. 9. The webinar on "Developing regulatory alternatives and evaluating economic impacts" focused on establishing regulatory alternatives to the major issues being considered as part of the rewrite: Bona Fides, a revised Broker Permitting System, and Continuing Education.
CBP posted its draft agenda and numerous other documents for the upcoming Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) meeting on Aug. 15 in Seattle. The materials include presentations, draft recommendations, and other documents on the role of the Broker, Simplified Entry, Bonds, Residue, the Global Supply Chain, and other topics.
CBP exams and holds on goods are among the largest difficulties among importers and brokers, according to the first Trade Efficiency benchmarking survey, released Aug. 8. The survey, done in June by the Advisory Committee On Commercial Operations (COAC), is meant to be a look at CBP's trade facilitation and effect on lowering costs of compliance. The survey was among a large set of COAC materials released by CBP. (See 12080922 for a list of the materials.)