A Florida tobacco importer faces criminal charges and possible prison time for allegedly evading $13 million in excise taxes, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida on Oct. 21 (here). Gitano Pierre Bryant Jr. miscalculated the amount of excise taxes he owed on large cigars he imported, despite repeated warnings from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) and a previous conviction, and falsified invoices to further lower his tax payments, the attorney’s office said.
CBP 's interim regulations for investigating allegations of antidumping or countervailing duty evasion diminish the effect of the new law by limiting what information is released publicly, the Southern Shrimp Alliance said in comments to CBP (here). "The results of CBP’s investigations will provide invaluable assistance to the trade community in recognizing and avoiding evasion schemes and will improve the informed compliance of importers and other supply chain participants," it said. "But these benefits will only be enjoyed if CBP issues public notices of its actions." The agency has received and responded to at least one allegation since the interim rules went into effect (see 1610190029).
ORLANDO -- CBP is working to allow Automated Broker Interface filers to directly file for Section 321 release from manifest, said Jim Swanson, director of cargo security and controls in CBP’s Office of Field Operations, during the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones annual conference on Oct. 17. But despite some calls from the trade community to allow Section 321 releases directly to consumers, CBP doesn’t have authority to deviate from normal release procedures, Swanson said. The agency is working with various associations, including express carriers, airlines, and customs brokers and forwarders, to respond to the growing amount of low-volume shipments across the U.S., Swanson said. The recent increase of the U.S. de minimis level from $200 to $800 has multiplied that type of shipment brought in by airlines at small airports across the country he said. Customs reauthorization legislation enacted earlier this year set the new de minimis level. The effects of the change are confounding CBP, which expected that any post-Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act influx in de minimis-related imports would mainly arrive via express couriers, Swanson said.
SAN DIEGO -- CBP is aiming to propose changes to the customs broker regulations by the end of 2016, said Cindy Allen, vice president-regulatory affairs and compliance for FedEx Trade Networks, while speaking at the Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 15. "I expect to see something by the end of the year or very soon after," she said. Allen, who is also on the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC), discussed the recommendations submitted to CBP through the COAC (see 1604250011). Some of the recommendations elicited concerns among attendees.
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of Oct. 17 (some may also be given separate headlines):
SAN DIEGO -- CBP is in "almost daily contact" with Hanjin Shipping as the insolvent company devises a path for moving cargo to its intended destinations, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said at the Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 14. The agency is working to understand the "difficult issues," such as cargo sitting offshore and the storage or movement of cargo at the ports (see 1609300047), he said. "We have made sure that on the West Coast, all of our port directors" know what's going on, he said. The agency is also "well aware" of the problems the situation is causing, he said. Much about Hanjin's future, including a possible sale, remains unclear, the Wall Street Journal reported (here).
The following customs brokers' licenses and all associated permits are revoked without prejudice for failure to file a triennial status report, CBP said in a notice (here).
CBP Los Angeles released updated guidance on filing formal entries for cargo carried by passengers by hand in light of new ACE cargo release processes. Filers are “strongly urged” to fill out a “Passenger Hand-Carry Release for ACE Entry" sheet with information on the passenger, customs broker, flight and merchandise, pre-file it in ACE via the Document Image System along with a copy of the passenger’s passport and any pertinent entry documents, CBP L.A. said. After reviewing the entry in ACE cargo release, the CBP officer will sign and stamp the sheet and fax it to the terminal, with a “Public Note” transmitted via ACE to the filer serving as a release message. “If the passenger arrives and an entry cannot be located, the officer at the terminal will contact CBP Cargo Operations to inquire about the formal entry prior to post-entering the shipment,” CBP L.A. said. On Saturdays, Sundays and after hours on Monday through Friday, filers will be required to contact the Cargo Counter or Manifest Desk to notify CBP about the hand-carried entry, it said.
An importer of college dormitory furniture, a sourcing firm, and the owner of both companies will pay a total of $1,525,000 to settle charges that they falsely claimed on customs documentation that they were importing office furniture in an effort to evade antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China, the Department of Justice said Sept 30 (here). In a whistleblower case brought by a former Omni employee, the government claimed Ecologic Industries, Omni Supply Chain Management and Daniel Scott Goldman “conspired with others” to make false statements and misclassified the furniture on entry documentation to avoid paying antidumping duties, DOJ said.
CBP's proposal to eliminate "blanket certification" and require information for all chemical imports about whether Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) regulations apply seems to contradict ongoing efforts to streamline trade processing, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said (here). "We urge CBP to include an exemption from the negative certification for chemicals that are clearly identified as a pesticide or other chemical not subject to TSCA," the NCBFAA said in comments to CBP in response to the agency's proposal involving the use of ACE for goods subject to TSCA regulations (see 1608260032). "In our view, requiring a negative certification for these non-TSCA products is an overreach that is incompatible" with the 2014 Executive Order on streamlining trade processing, the group said.