The appeals court ruling in Hitachi v. United States on CBP protest deadlines is not consequential enough to merit review, said the U.S. government in its Nov. 2 reply brief to Hitachi’s request for a hearing by the Supreme Court. The issue took four decades to arise, the government said, and importers have the option of accelerated disposition of CBP protests if they seek judicial review.
All Port of New York and New Jersey container terminals reopened at 7 a.m. Nov. 5, except the Red Hook terminal, which reopened at 8 a.m. See details (here). There were some limitations, for example, Maher Terminals told customers that it would not be receiving empty containers into its facilities Nov. 5 and it wasn't sure if it would be allowed to process trucks past 6 p.m. (here)
The National Customs Broker and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) released a new paper meant to serve "as the starting point for a continuous review of the role the licensed customs broker plays now and into the future." The paper, released Nov. 2, describes the roles currently played by customs brokers. CBP is in the process of reviewing and rewriting a number of broker regulations in CFR 19 Part 111. "Our hope is that this document serves not only to provide an historical perspective but also to provide guidance as to where we see the industry headed," said NCBFAA. "Of course, events over which we have no control may dictate changes but, absent any benchmark, we would have no idea how far we have come."
Post-entry audits of customs filings remain outside of "customs business" and therefore don't require broker licensing, said Myles Harmon, director-commercial and trade facilitation at CBP, in ruling HQ114654. The ruling was in response to a request from Koot & Associates, which asked for CBP input on the legal status of a new subsidiary providing "customs compliance services." The company asked CBP whether employees of the new offices, who will work to identify errors in entry documents using post-entry audit software, are performing "customs business."
A Taiwanese national was sentenced to two years in prison Oct. 24 for helping to obtain and export military sensitive parts for Iran, in violation of the Iranian trade embargo, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The indictment charged Susan Yip, 35, a citizen of Taiwan, along with Mehrdad Foomanie (aka Frank Foomanie) of Iran, and Merdad Ansari of the United Arab Emirates, with conspiracy to violate the Iranian Transaction Regulations, conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Yip had pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge July 20, admitting that from Oct. 9, 2007 to June 15, 2011, she acted as a broker and conduit for Foomanie to buy items in the United States and have them unlawfully shipped to Iran.
The World Customs Organization should implement the Revised Kyoto Convention and shift from a dependency on paper documents to a full e-Customs environment, said the Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG) in a position paper. GACAG said harmonization of global customs procedures will be critical to establishing e-Customs platforms and said the entire air cargo industry will support the effort.
CBP will add air cargo in-bond functionality to the Automated Broker Interface on Nov. 5, the agency said in a CSMS message. ABI in-bond requests, which are currently being tested, may only be transmitted for air waybills that have been transmitted and accepted in the Air Automated Manifest System, said CBP. CBP also provided a set of tips on using air in-bonds:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 1-5 in case they were missed.
The Obama administration should reconsider its preliminary decision to terminate the agreement suspending an antidumping investigation of Mexican tomatoes, the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) said in an Oct. 18 letter to the president. The International Trade Administration recently posted its preliminary results of the changed circumstances review of fresh tomatoes from Mexico, potentially leading to a new antidumping investigation and the imposition of AD duties. (See ITT's Online Archives 12092821 for summary of the preliminary results.)
CBP posted an updated "Trade Transformation" guide, providing a list of some of the remaining questions to consider as it moves toward a rewrite of broker regulations. The document also now includes a list of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) capabilities, descriptions of ACE goals and the impacts of certain capabilities.