International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 25-29 in case they were missed.
A new working group within the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) is reviewing the risks and benefits around remote and autonomous cargo processing, according to a CBP issue paper released ahead of the Dec. 4 COAC meeting. “Drones, driverless vehicles, captainless ships -- autonomous delivery is already operating within borders to deliver goods to customers,” it said in the paper. The government should examine the risks and opportunities created by the technologies, CBP said. “As CBP embarks on autonomous processes and conditions, it needs to realize impacts and benefits to industry.”
The 2019 annual user fee of $147.89 for each customs broker district permit and national permit held by an individual, partnership, association or corporation is due by Jan. 31, 2020, CBP said in a notice. If a broker fails to pay the annual user fee by the published due date, the appropriate port director will notify the broker in writing of the failure to pay and will revoke the permit to operate. The 2019 fee represents an increase from last year's user fee of $144.74, as previously announced (see 1908010021).
While the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is asking for the renewed Craft Beverage Modernization Act to simplify the process of applying for the lower excise taxes on imports, the break for small producers of beer, wine and spirits may be gone entirely in a little more than a month. The CBMA was included in broader tax reform legislation in 2017 (see 1712180033).
The Food and Drug Administration should harness blockchain, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to address food safety issues in quickly evolving supply chains, and customs brokers will play a central role in facilitating adoption and the correct use of these new technologies by smaller and medium-sized operations, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments recently submitted to FDA.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America will use lobbying firm Whitmer & Worrall as Washington counsel, the association said in a Nov. 21 email. “Whitmer & Worrall is honored to support NCBFAA in representing the business of customs brokers, forwarders and OTI's, as transportation facilitators and logistics professionals," said Gabe Pellathy, partner at Whitmer & Worrall. "We look forward to achieving results for NCBFAA members through our collaboration including strategic planning, issues management and stakeholder engagement." Jon Kent, who previously lobbied for the NCBFAA, is retiring (see 1909030030).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its fall 2019 regulatory agenda for CBP. The only new trade-related rulemaking included is a proposed requirement for the U.S. Postal Service to transmit advance electronic information to CBP for international mail shipments. That rule is a result of the STOP Act, or Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, signed by President Donald Trump in October 2018 (see 1810240052). CBP is targeting December to issue an interim final rule, it said.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America will use lobbying firm Whitmer & Worrall as Washington counsel, the association said in a Nov. 21 email. “Whitmer & Worrall is honored to support NCBFAA in representing the business of customs brokers, forwarders and OTI's, as transportation facilitators and logistics professionals," said Gabe Pellathy, partner at Whitmer & Worrall. "We look forward to achieving results for NCBFAA members through our collaboration including strategic planning, issues management and stakeholder engagement." Jon Kent, who previously lobbied for the NCBFAA, is retiring (see 1909030030).
The Treasury Department published its fall 2019 regulatory agenda for CBP. The agenda includes a new rulemaking that would amend CBP's regulations to get rid of the “onerous and inefficient paper-based bond application and approval processes," it said. The agency will try to issue a proposed rulemaking rule by March next year, it said. "Moving forward, the proposed amendments would implement the successful National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) test for electronic bonds ('eBonds')," it said. "The proposed amendments would require all bonds to be filed by the sureties using an electronic data interchange (EDI) or e-mail."
A recent Federal Maritime Commission proposed rule would lead to a much fairer enforcement process for alleged violations of the Shipping Act, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments submitted to the agency. The proposal would create a process for notifying a target of an investigation and allowing it to respond, and ensure that FMC commissioners see the target’s statement before deciding how to proceed. “As the members of the Commission would necessarily be involved at the outset, it seems more likely that potential enforcement cases would focus on issues that have a material adverse effect on trade or competition and minimize the initiation of cases that are based on relatively minor or technical infringements of regulations,” the NCBFAA said. The proposal would also make it “less likely that there would be an anecdotal approach to enforcement where only [the Bureau of Enforcement] and a respondent know what the issues in any prosecution actually involved.” But FMC should go beyond its proposal and create penalty and mitigation guidelines for Shipping Act violations, the trade group said.