The Food Safety Inspection Service recently provided guidance on procedures and requirements for importing egg products, in a letter to importers and customs brokers dated April 4 (here). The agency said it has seen a recent uptick in attempted imports of egg products from ineligible sources, possibly as a result of the effect highly-pathogenic avian influenza has had on the U.S. egg industry. FSIS has also seen an increase in egg products from ineligible countries or under incorrect product names, it said. The letter provides guidance on egg products under FSIS jurisdiction, misbranded egg products, foreign country eligibility, the import process, and enforcement provisions for ineligible or misbranded egg products that are not presented for reinspection.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee will next meet April 27 in Washington, D.C., CBP said in a notice (here).
The Federal Maritime Commission should go beyond its proposal in relaxing filing requirements for non-vessel operating common carrier service arrangements, said the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America in March 30 comments to the agency (here). The FMC asked for public comments on proposed changes (see 1602290029) to allow "a service contract amendment to be filed individually and sequentially within 30 days of its effectiveness" or "any number of service contract amendments to be consolidated into a single document, but filed within 30 days of the effective date of the earliest of all amendments contained in the document." The NCBFAA said it does not consider the proposals far reaching enough to provide relief for the NVOCC industry. Instead, the FMC should remove the filing and essential terms publication requirements altogether, it said.
CBP clarified agency regulations "to include updated and more narrowly tailored authorities to permit the collection" of Employer Identification Numbers or Social Security numbers as part of regulatory audits, said CBP in a notice (here). The clarifications accompany a separate notice on the Regulatory Audit Archive System (RAAS) System of Records (here). "This system of records allows DHS/CBP to collect and maintain records on individuals subject to regulatory audits of customs brokers, importers, and other parties involved in international trade activities," it said. "CBP is updating this system of records notice to reflect changes to its authorities, category of records, and routine uses."
China Customs forms have new fields for trade region, country of origin/final destination, special relation confirmation, price impact confirmation, and royalty payment confirmation, according to a directive of the General Customs Administration (GAC) of China cited by global logistics company Expeditors (here). The forms also no longer have fields for foreign exchange permit number, customs remarks, release date, declaration form print date, and broker contact information, said the company. Those changes and others went into effect March 30, two days after GAC published Announcement No. 20 (here), which ordered revisions to China’s Import/Export Declaration Form. They are the first revisions to the form since 2008, said the company.
Despite some brief “system slowdowns” for ACE users following the March 31 mandatory use dates for most entry summaries and certain PGA entries in ACE, the issues “have been resolved,” said a CBP spokeswoman. CBP "regrets" the issues and has its "technical teams operating 24/7” to increase “monitoring of ACE system performance to address any additional need for faster response times while maintaining the security and integrity of the system,” she said.
The FTC and other federal civil law enforcement agencies shouldn't stand in the way of changes that "improve" the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, former Commissioner Julie Brill said during a recent interview. In September, Brill issued a separate statement from the agency when a commission official testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She said the proposed changes to ECPA wouldn't hamper the FTC's current or future investigations. She feared the commission's proposal to carve out a separate "judicial mechanism" to obtain content from service providers could potentially lead to invasion of privacy.
The FTC and other federal civil law enforcement agencies shouldn't stand in the way of changes that "improve" the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, former Commissioner Julie Brill said during a recent interview. In September, Brill issued a separate statement from the agency when a commission official testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She said the proposed changes to ECPA wouldn't hamper the FTC's current or future investigations. She feared the commission's proposal to carve out a separate "judicial mechanism" to obtain content from service providers could potentially lead to invasion of privacy.
CBP is continuing to track stakeholder readiness for ACE transition, and expects its first mandatory use date on March 31 to proceed smoothly, said an agency spokeswoman that same day. The switch from a hard Feb. 28 deadline to phased approach “has alleviated concerns voiced by the trade community regarding readiness by staggering the integration of the PGAs, and allowing more time for all parties to fully transition to ACE,” she said.
After months of hand-wringing and multiple delays, the first ACE mandatory use date on March 31 looks set to go smoothly, said software developers and customs brokers the day before the transition. CBP’s phased implementation approach appears to have paid dividends, with March 31 marking no change at all for many filers who already file the required types of entries and entry summaries in ACE, they said.