U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a fact sheet and presentation on the work being done to model simplified entry and financial processes for imports, as called for by Commissioner Bersin, who asked industry and government to consider how import trade processes can be re-engineered to meet the technological needs of the 21st century. CBP hopes to pilot these models in fiscal year 2012.
The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau states on August 11, 2011 Do Young “Nick” Lee, 42, of Tysons Corner, VA, in the business of importing alcohol from Korea, admitted to smuggling a distilled spirit into the U.S., failing to pay the proper taxes on the imports, and laundering the profits back into the operation. Lee operated Morning Calm International, Inc., principally based in Philadelphia, which imported the distilled spirit Cheungpung Soju. Lee admitted that to reduce the amount of excise taxes levied on his imports, he submitted, and caused customs brokers to submit, documents to U.S. Customs and Border Protection claiming that the Soju was rice wine.
Supporters of the Universal Service Fund overhaul agreement brokered by USTelecom asked the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Commerce committees and their communications subcommittees for support. A Thursday letter was from USTelecom, AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, FairPoint, Frontier, Windstream, OPASTCO, the NTCA and the Western Telecommunications Alliance. “This universal service fund (USF) and intercarrier compensation reform framework represents the country’s best chance to stabilize, modernize, and expand rural networks for years to come,” the coalition said. “With our carefully balanced compromise, we believe the industry can work through a major transition process without damaging vital communication infrastructure or disrupting customer services.” The FCC has said it hopes to complete reform this fall, the coalition noted. “After years of frustration and dead-ends, we are on the precipice of reform and now have a rare opportunity to push for significant change in these vital programs. Please join us by encouraging the FCC to make this reform a reality.” In a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe urged the FCC “to take advantage of this historic opportunity” presented by the broad industry agreement on universal service and intercarrier comp revisions. “We may never see a better chance than this, and it’s time to end the waiting for those without broadband,” Beebe, a Democrat, wrote in a letter dated and released Thursday.
CBP officials state the agency is “exploring its options” on how to address trade concerns that the original ACE entry summary filer is missing out on perhaps important information, when a different filer replaces the original filer’s summary with a Post Summary Correction version, as the original filer does not have visibility to the PSC filing.
On May 17, 2011, the USCIB and AAEI asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Bersin to consider 18 additional benefits for the "next generation" of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) for Tier 2 and 3 participants, including zero inspections, eliminating CBP Form 28s, and releasing cargo based on 10+2 data.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a notice announcing that the next customs broker license exam will be held on Monday, October 3, 2011.
Northern Valley Communications and Kentucky Telephone complained about rules designed to curb “so-called ‘access stimulation,'” in an ex parte filing in docket 01-92. “Ultimately, at a time when the nation’s economy remains in peril and the Chairman is focused on how technology and innovation can create jobs for Americans, the rules proposed by the FCC are unwarranted,” the companies said. “These proposed new regulatory burdens would serve only to kill jobs in rural America, and by attacking free conference calling services would make it more expensive for small businesses and entrepreneurs to collaborate on their ventures.” The companies also took a look at the USTelecom-brokered agreement on Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation reform (CD Aug 1 p1). “While the approach suggested by these carriers has many flaws which counsel against its adoption, we noted that this or similar proposals would effectively moot the need to adopt rules specifically addressed at ‘access stimulation,’ because the industry-wide transition to such low rates would effectively prevent carriers from having sufficient revenues to share with their end user customers,” the companies said.
Windstream’s Q2 profit was $93.2 million, up from $79 million in the same period last year. Though more work needs to be done, the USTelecom-brokered USF proposal is a good start, CEO Jeff Gardner said during an investor call Friday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its spreadsheet of ACE ESAR A2.2 (Initial Entry Types) programming issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection states that Web-Based Training (WBT) for e-Manifest: Rail & Sea (M1) is now available. CBP's information on M1 is broken into six lessons, with the recommended audience listed as appropriate.