CBP said Oct. 4 it would delay its deployment for a number of new Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) features planned on Oct. 5. "CBP is monitoring the situation for developments and will continue to do so until funding is put in place to re-open the government," it said in a CSMS message. "CBP is ready to deploy and will ensure the Trade Community receives advanced notification of any decision to deploy." The CBP announcement followed a National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America notice saying the deployment would be put off (see 13100417).
A customs broker is embroiled in a whistleblower suit against cellphone case seller OtterBox, alleging the company knowingly failed to include assists in the transaction value of merchandise it imported from China over a five-year period. Former OtterBox employee and licensed customs broker Bonnie Jimenez filed the False Claims Act suit at the Colorado U.S. District Court in 2011, but it wasn’t made public until about one month ago. She says she repeatedly told management that OtterBox was undervaluing cellphone cases that it imported from China, but that management deliberately ignored her pleas. OtterBox moved to dismiss the case on Sept. 25, saying that a prior disclosure of the violations filed with CBP before the Jimenez lawsuit protected it from a whistleblower case.
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CBP is postponing the planned Oct. 5 deployment of several Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) pieces due to the government shutdown, the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America said in an alert. While CBP is ready to deploy on schedule, "due to limited personnel resources within CBP--notably the absence of Client Representatives--and complications being experienced with normal release and post-release processing often related to [Partner Government Agency] systems and their resource limitations during the hiatus, CBP did not want to put further stress on the trade at this time," NCBFAA said.
CBP seems to be accepting and processing protests, despite the government shutdown. CBP personnel at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach are still working on protests, confirmed a spokesman with the port’s public information office. Industry sources tell us the Ports of New York/New Jersey and at John F. Kennedy International Airport have also confirmed they will be processing protests, although with some delays. And other industry sources tell us the ports of Laredo and Detroit seem to be processing protests as well.
Those involved in international trade were reporting relatively few impacts of the government shutdown, in its second day, but expressing concerns about the longer term. Most industry officials told us traffic continues moving through ports and airports.
CBP made available a full report on the Aug. 7 meeting of the CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC). Among the subcommittee recommendations at the meeting were:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 23-27 in case they were missed.
The trade industry was still assessing the short- and long-term effects of the government shutdown Oct. 1. CBP had already said its core functions would not be immediately affected (see 13093028). And the U.S. National Airspace System was operating normally Oct. 1, with no reports of any impact to operations due to the government shutdown, said The International Air Cargo Association.
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