The past year’s court rulings on corporate employee liability for customs violations has sparked deliberation in the trade community over what Trek Leather means for import compliance professionals. Customs lawyers warn of the possibility that unsuspecting corporate officers and compliance managers could find themselves subject to penalties and fines, although some attorneys say those concerns are overstated. Trade associations are busy deciphering how importers should address any liability arising from the case, including whether they should offer employees indemnification or insurance. However, creating insurance covering employee liability for customs violations is fraught with difficulties, and lawyers and insurers interviewed said no such policies exist as of yet.
Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., introduced legislation on June 4 to expand the Taft-Hartley Act, the benchmark labor relations measure signed into law in 1947, in order to deter future slowdowns and shutdowns at U.S. ports. Gardner introduced the Protecting Orderly and Responsible Transit of Shipments (PORTS) Act, S-1519, months after West Coast port operations ground to a halt over a contract dispute between port operators and labor (see 1502120049). The text of the bill isn’t yet public.
CBP will be keeping a close eye on testing of the Automated Commercial Environment and will be conducting targeted outreach to test specific scenarios as its Nov. 1 deadline approaches, an agency spokeswoman told International Trade Today in response to questions on how the postponement of ACE implementation until Oct. 31 for several quota-related entry types affects the agency’s approach. The delay leaves only one day for live filing before ACE becomes mandatory and the Automated Commercial System goes offline, causing some concern among customs brokers and software developers (see 1506030054).
Customs brokers, freight forwarders and importers pushed House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and ranking member Sandy Levin, D-Mich., to “quickly” pass the Senate-approved trade preference package in a June 3 letter (here). Senate lawmakers made changes to the package, after legislators in both chambers introduced the same preference legislation in April (see 1504200052). Both packages comprise renewals for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Generalized System of Preference and two Haiti tariff preference level programs.
The Food and Drug Administration issued a draft guidance (here) detailing its plans for the Voluntary Qualified Importer Program, a trusted trader program for food importers that will provide benefits including fewer examinations and expedited laboratory analysis. FDA has said it hopes to launch VQIP in 2017 (see 1503260014), following the implementation of a system of accreditation bodies for third-party auditors that will certify foreign food exporters as eligible sources of imports under the program. The agency is seeking comments on its draft plan for VQIP by Aug. 19, it said in a Federal Register notice (here).
A recently announced delay in implementation of certain entry types in the Automated Commercial Environment has ratcheted up the pressure on filers and software providers striving to meet CBP’s Nov. 1 deadline. CBP on May 22 issued a CSMS message (here) pushing back deployment in ACE of all entry types that may include quota merchandise from June 27 to Oct. 31. That leaves only one day for live testing of those entry types -- 11 in total, including foreign-trade zone and warehouse entries and withdrawals -- before the Automated Commercial System goes offline and paper becomes the only fallback, said customs brokers and software developers in interviews.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 26 - 29 in case they were missed.
While the Automated Commercial Environment transition remains the focus of CBP's trade efforts, the agency is also considering some new initiatives to follow the move to ACE, said Cynthia Whittenburg, CBP executive director for trade policy and programs on June 1. Whittenburg discussed several of the items the agency is looking at while on a panel during an American Association of Exporters and Importers conference. Whittenburg pointed to updated definitions for identifier codes and account-based simplified processes among potential future work.
Comcast Ventures sees its Zenefits investment as a foot into a potentially $30 billion human resources services industry, principal Callum King wrote in a company blog post. Zenefits earlier this month said it raised $500 million in a Series C round of funding, with the money to be used for such needs as rolling out new products. King said the Comcast/NBCUniversal venture capital fund was one of the investors, putting the money in because of Zenefits' growth -- growing to more than 10,000 customers and close to 1,000 employees in its roughly two-year history -- as well as because of the potential market size and its business model. "Zenefits provides quality HR software for free and makes money by acting as their customer’s insurance broker," King wrote. "As the company continues to expand its product portfolio, they will become even more valuable for customers." Since its 1999 start as Comcast Interactive Capital, Comcast Ventures has invested in more than 100 companies, including Broadbus Technologies, CTI Towers, Intellon and TiVo.
Comcast Ventures sees its Zenefits investment as a foot into a potentially $30 billion human resources services industry, principal Callum King wrote in a company blog post. Zenefits earlier this month said it raised $500 million in a Series C round of funding, with the money to be used for such needs as rolling out new products. King said the Comcast/NBCUniversal venture capital fund was one of the investors, putting the money in because of Zenefits' growth -- growing to more than 10,000 customers and close to 1,000 employees in its roughly two-year history -- as well as because of the potential market size and its business model. "Zenefits provides quality HR software for free and makes money by acting as their customer’s insurance broker," King wrote. "As the company continues to expand its product portfolio, they will become even more valuable for customers." Since its 1999 start as Comcast Interactive Capital, Comcast Ventures has invested in more than 100 companies, including Broadbus Technologies, CTI Towers, Intellon and TiVo.