International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 21-25 in case they were missed.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., wants more information from data broker Experian. In a Wednesday letter (http://1.usa.gov/1am3zpA), Rockefeller asked the company for more specifics about its subsidiary Court Ventures, which allegedly sold sensitive personal information to an identity fraud service in Vietnam, according to an investigation by Internet security news site KrebsonSecurity (http://bit.ly/15W0gEb). The Senate Commerce Committee, which Rockefeller chairs, has been investigating the data broker industry since last October (WID Oct 11 p9) when Rockefeller sent letters to nine data brokers, including Experian, asking for information on each company’s business practices (http://1.usa.gov/16zWQ72). “The committee’s investigation has focused to date on how companies including Experian collect and sell consumer information for marketing purposes,” Rockefeller wrote in his recent letter to Experian. “However, if these recent news accounts are accurate, they raise serious questions about whether Experian as a company has appropriate practices in place for vetting its customers and sharing sensitive consumer data with them, regardless of the particular line of business.” Experian, which did not comment on Rockefeller’s letter, has until Nov. 8 to comply with the senator’s request. The company did give a brief statement to The New York Times Thursday, saying Experian had “worked closely and in full cooperation” with the government during its investigation of Court Ventures (http://nyti.ms/17MnJVT).
Correction: CBP mistakenly listed a number of revoked customs broker licenses as reinstated (see 13102504).
Companies, Trade Groups Push Senate Finance to Move on Customs Bill, AD/CV Language Remains an Issue
The Senate Finance Committee should resolve the questions on antidumping and countervailing duty enforcement and work to get customs reauthorization legislation to the Senate floor this year, a group of companies and trade associations said in a letter to committee leaders. The Oct. 24 letter was sent to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and emphasized the importance of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act of 2013 (S. 662), which has stalled over disagreement on how to handle and update AD/CV duty enforcement (see 13040911).
CBP again revoked 38 customs broker licenses it previously revoked and subsequently said were reinstated, said CBP. The licenses were originally revoked on Dec. 6 for failure to submit a 2009 or 2012 triennial report and fee, but were listed as reinstated on Aug. 8 because CBP said those licenses were named by mistake (see 13080720). CBP is now revoking a number of those licenses it mistakenly listed as being reinstated on Aug. 8. "Those brokers were never personally notified that their licenses were reinstated and have not been permitted to practice despite the erroneous publication," said CBP.
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America will soon be rolling out a new logo and brand mark, said Position:Global, the company that developed the new looks. More information on the logo is (here).
A Los Angeles man was sentenced to 27 months in prison for his role in a duty evasion conspiracy that also brought down former San Diego Customs Brokers Association President Gerardo Chavez, said the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. Sunil Jiwat Mirwani and his company M Trade were convicted in June of evading customs duties on more than $30 million in Chinese-made wearing apparel, after a one-week jury trial. Mirwani will also have to forefeit $30,000 in cash, and an inventory of over 220,000 pairs of blue jeans valued at over $1 million.
The Mexican lower house approved on Oct. 17 a modified version of a major tax reform, removing provisions that would have applied new taxes on Maquila border factories, according to several law firms and press reports. Other changes from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s original proposal include higher top income tax rates and a new tax on high-fat foods, according to a report from Bloomberg (here). The reform also changes Mexican customs procedures. The bill now goes to the Mexican senate, with approval expected by that body by the beginning of November, said Reuters (here).
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The proposed emissions standard for formaldehyde in composite wood products would impose a particularly heavy burden on importers, said the International Wood Products Association (IWPA) in comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (here). Import certification requirements in EPA’s proposed rule would make importers do extra work without any real benefit, and the way compliance dates are structured would require importers to get up to speed faster than their domestic counterparts, IWPA said. For both importers and domestic industry, the differences between EPA’s proposal and the existing California standard would add unnecessary costs, it said. And a de minimis exception is also needed for goods like consumer electronics that may include small amounts of wood, said IWPA and other groups (here).