A CBP headquarters official, chosen to help shape national policy on de minimis, said that while the trade community welcomed the opportunity for electronic clearance of packages that require partner government agency review, importers are often not following the reasonable care standard required for Type 86 entries. The Type 86 test is for packages that are low enough value to avoid duties under the de minimis statute, but are not eligible for de minimis because they contain goods that PGAs inspect. If importers participate in the test -- and there were more than 623 million packages last fiscal year that were covered -- they must provide a 10-digit Harmonized Tarff Schedule code.
The Agricultural Marketing Service will begin with a period of soft “enforcement discretion” once its new regulations on organic import certificates take effect on March 19, but importers should nonetheless be working now to get their organic certifications as required under the rules, an AMS official said, speaking during a recent webinar.
CBP posted the following documents ahead of the March 6 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting, which begins at 1 p.m. EST:
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee's (COAC) Broker Modernization Working Group will recommend that CBP unify the registration and "site selection process" for candidates applying for the customs brokers licensing exam. The goal would be to include "registration, site selection, payment, and other ancillary requirements," the working group said.
Registration for the May 1 customs broker license exam opened on Feb. 20 and will close March 21, at 4:30 p.m., CBP said. Registration for the exam can be found at the Customs Brokers webpage on CBP's website. The agency previously announced that the exam date was being moved from April 24 to May 1 (see 2312120046).
Georgia woman Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois filed suit at the Court of International Trade Feb. 16 to contest six questions on the October 2021 customs broker license exam. In her complaint, Stoute-Francois said that after appealing the test results to the Treasury Department, she was left just short of the 75% grade needed to pass the test, failing at 73.75% (Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois v. U.S., CIT # 24-00046).
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Georgia woman Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois filed suit at the Court of International Trade Feb. 16 to contest six questions on the October 2021 customs broker license exam. In her complaint, Stoute-Francois said that after appealing the test results to the Treasury Department, she was left just short of the 75% grade needed to pass the test, failing at 73.75% (Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois v. U.S., CIT # 24-00046).
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet March 6 remotely and in person in Charleston, South Carolina, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by March 1.
More than a hundred organizations wrote an open letter calling upon governments to unite behind a “zero-tolerance” policy to deter attacks on vessels and seafarers in the Red Sea and “anywhere in the world.” The letter, dated Feb. 8, said that more than 30% of the world’s trade moves through the Red Sea and that the attacks have caused more than $80 billion in cargo to be “diverted” around the Cape of Good Hope.