Akin Gump hired Tyson Smith, previously a consultant with TradeMoves, as a customs and international trade specialist in the Washington office, the law firm said (here). Smith is a licensed customs broker and will work with Akin Gump clients on tariff classification, valuation and binding rulings, among other things, the firm said.
Provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership that may force the U.S. to make major changes to how it assesses the merchandise processing fee (MPF) is getting attention on Capitol Hill, a Congressional staffer said. Article 2.15 of the recently agreed text, which still requires approval from Congress, provides that "no party shall levy fees and charges on or in connection with importation or exportation on an ad valorem basis." MPF, which is currently charged at an ad valorem rate of 0.3464% on formal entries, with per entry minimums and maximums, would have to be converted into a flat fee in order to comply, said one staffer.
CBP is working on a new Form 3461 for filing “walk-up” entries and requests for release during broker or Automated Commercial Environment system outages, said the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America in an update. Current downtime procedures will continue to apply after the ACE transition, with CBP accepting either the new Form 3461 or a cover sheet that includes the same information, said the agency, according to the NCBFAA.
The 2016 annual user fee of $138 for each customs broker district permit and national permit held by an individual, partnership, association, or corporation is due by Feb. 26, said CBP in a notice (here). According to 19 CFR 111.96(c), this user fee is payable for each calendar year at the port through which the broker was issued a permit or at a port referred to in 19 CFR 111.19(c) in the case of a national permit. Note that 19 CFR 111.96(c) also states that 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. That notice will constitute revocation of the permit. CBP anticipates "that for subsequent years, the annual user fee for customs brokers will be due on the last business day of February of each year," it said.
The Food and Drug Administration is making no changes at the present time to the data elements it requires for filing in its Automated Commercial Environment pilot, said Domenic Veneziano, director of FDA’s import division, in response to our inquiry Nov. 11. The data elements outlined in FDA’s current supplemental guide are “critical” in admissibility decisions, allowing the agency to more timely process releases, he said at a webinar hosted by Integration Point the previous day. “The only change, at this time, to the pilot is the need to complete and submission of the template,” Veneziano said, referring to FDA’s decision to end a pilot requirement that the agency prevalidate shipment data before it is filed in ACE (see 1512080075).
Lawmakers finished up work on a conference version of long-debated customs reauthorization legislation that combines the underlying concepts of the Senate- and House-proposed customs bills, said Conference Committee members on Dec. 9 (here). Notably, the compromise legislation (here) would impose the ENFORCE Act's firm deadlines on CBP to investigate claims of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion, and would require new regulations on customs broker identification of importers, under threat of penalty. A new provision in the legislation -- absent from either chamber's original bill -- would hold CBP to stricter deadlines for reliquidating entries. The bill could go to a vote on the House floor as early as Dec. 11, a congressional staffer said. The lawmakers also released a summary (here) and joint explanatory statement (here) on the bill's provisions.
There’s still space for importers, customs brokers and software developers that want to participate in pilots of Environmental Protection Agency filing in the Automated Commercial Environment, said Roy Chaudet of EPA’s Office of Information Collection during a webinar held with CBP on Dec. 8. Among pilots that are limited to nine participants, tests for imports of non-road vehicles and engines and pesticide notices of arrival currently have around two each, and a pilot on hazardous waste exporters has four, said Chaudet. Ongoing pilots with unlimited participation include imports of on-road vehicles and engines and ozone depleting substances.
The Food and Drug Administration is making changes to processes for participation in its Automated Commercial Environment filing pilot and modifying “the data that are required at the time of entry for admissibility,” said CBP in a CSMS message dated Dec. 9 (here). Effective immediately, FDA has removed the requirement for submitting a data element “template” for pre-validation, although it will still provide the template to assist filers and will “provide guidance and support” to “answer any questions,” said the message.
House and Senate lawmakers aim to send a long-awaited customs reauthorization bill to President Barack Obama by the end of this week, said members of Congressional Conference Committee during a Dec. 7 public meeting. While congressional officials said language from the Senate-introduced ENFORCE Act is likely to make it in the bill’s final conference report, an industry lobbyist remains skeptical. Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., joined fellow Democratic conferee Sen. Ron Wyden, Ore. in lauding ENFORCE provisions, which both said will make duty evasion much tougher for importers who might seek to undercut U.S. industry.
President Barack Obama signed the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act into law on Dec. 4, the White House, said (here). The law (here), which authorizes budgetary resources for surface transportation programs for fiscal years 2016-2020, includes an increase to customs users fees to help pay for the programs. Among the fees set to increase are the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and broker permit fees. The fee changes will be based on the Consumer Price Index and the first adjustment will occur April 1 (see 1512040024).