As customs brokers seek to employ artificial intelligence, expect government regulators to observe but not necessarily hand down heavy-handed guidance on using AI tools to conduct customs business, according to trade and AI experts International Trade Today interviewed.
In response to a Georgia woman’s claim that the customs broker license exam “lacked sufficient information” on four questions, resulting in her failure to pass (see 2402160040), the U.S. said the woman was “entirely incorrect” regarding the questions’ ambiguity (Skeeter-Jo Stoute-Francois v. U.S., CIT # 24-00046).
Shein, which has made its business selling fast fashion from Chinese manufacturers in de minimis packages to American consumers, announced Dec. 19 that it has begun participating in the Section 321 Data Pilot program. The Section 321 pilot is smaller and requires less data than Type 86 filing. The company said it had been participating more than 30 days, and CBP confirmed that it was receiving all the relevant import entry information for the data pilot.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control fined C.H. Robinson, one of the world’s largest logistics firms, more than $250,000 after OFAC said its non-U.S. subsidiaries violated sanctions against Iran and Cuba. The five subsidiaries allegedly provided freight brokerage or transportation services for 82 shipments to or from Iran or involving Iranian or Cuban goods, while one of the companies also did business with sanctioned Iranian airline Mahan Air.
CBP has released its Dec. 11 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 49), which contains no ruling actions but includes a notice that CBP granted Proctor & Gamble Lever rule protection against importations of certain anti-dandruff shampoo and conditioner products manufactured in Germany that bear the federally registered and recorded “HEAD & SHOULDERS” trademark. It also includes a notice reminding customs brokers that the annual user fee for 2025 is due no later than Jan. 31. Three Court of International Trade slip opinions also are included.
Flexport employees advised attendees on a webinar this week to prepare for a scaling back of de minimis, in case the rulemaking that removes goods subject to Section 301 tariffs moves forward.
CBP posted the following documents for the Dec. 11 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) meeting:
CBP’s October customs broker license exam had a 24% pass rate, CBP said in a memo released ahead of the Dec. 11 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee. That’s up from the 13% pass rate for the spring broker exam (see 2406180034), but down from the 34% pass rate for the exam held last October (see 2402270045). CBP said a total of 1,045 candidates took the exam, including both “in-person and remote-proctored” test takers.
Customs brokers could start to see considerable fruits of CBP's efforts to modernize ACE sometime in the next two years, according to a CBP official who spoke during a Dec. 10 webinar sponsored by the Los Angeles Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders Association.
Continuing Treasury Department holdups in vetting new members of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, combined with a few absences, meant that the advisory body didn’t have a quorum to vote on recommendations or other motions at its Dec. 11 meeting.