CBP has issued its weekly tariff rate quota (TRQ) commodity report as of March 27, 2006. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, tuna, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa powder, tobacco, certain JFTA, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, UAFTA and UCFTA TRQs, etc. This report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, CBTPA, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA (CFTA) tariff preference levels (TPLs) for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (CBP's weekly quota commodity report, dated 03/27/06, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a general notice announcing that truck carriers who are not Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Truck Carrier Accounts can now use third parties to transmit truck manifest information, including advance cargo information, electronically in the ACE Truck Manifest system, via electronic data interchange (EDI) messaging.
The long-awaited House telecom bill got a warm reception from Bell companies, but net neutrality proponents Tues. called it a step backward for the Internet (see separate story in this issue). The bill puts net neutrality regulation in the FCC’s hands, but it specifically orders no rulemaking -- a provision critics say would limit the FCC’s enforcement power. Cable gave the bill conditional approval, praising progress from earlier drafts. The bill doesn’t include a buildout provision -- considered a key stumbling block in building bipartisan support on the committee.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site under "What's New" an Attachment A entitled "Factories Comprising Qualifying Industrial Zones in Egypt Designated by U.S. Federal Register Notice of December 29, 2004." This list was Attachment A to a February 10, 2005 CBP memo, and names the industrial cities and the companies in each of the three QIZs. The list also contains a few "individual factories" for which the list states information is to be provided. (See ITT's Online Archives or 06/03/05 news, 05060315 for BP summary encompassing the February 10, 2005 CBP Memo.)Attachment A List available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/import/international_agreements/free_trade/free_trade_area/israel_attachment.ctt/israel_attachment.doc
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) has sent a letter to the Secretary of Commerce encouraging him to continue the Commerce Department's long-standing policy of safeguarding competition-sensitive export information as it establishes mandatory filing of data through the Automated Export System (AES). According to an NCBFAA press release, concern arose when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refused to approve regulations clarifying filers' responsibilities under the law and implementing the statutory requirement for mandatory filing through AES. Central to the controversy is a CBP demand for concessions on AES "Option 4" and on the availability of Census data to foreign governments. (NCBFAA press release, dated March 2006) available via email by emailing documents@brokerpower.com.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site various materials related to presentations made at the February 26 - March 1, 2006 meeting of the Trade Support Network (TSN).
Delays on a Senate cellphone privacy bill (S-2389) could make it hard to complete a package on cellphone privacy, Hill and lobbyist sources said. For a bundle to move, chairmen must agree to merge the House and Senate Commerce Committee bills (HR-4943, S-2389), plus companion House and Senate Judiciary committee bills (HR-4709, S-2178). But the Senate Commerce bill differs markedly from the House bill, and faces a host of amendments -- some said by consumer and privacy groups to threaten already scant consumer protections.
In U.S. v. Golden Gate Petroleum Co., the Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled that Golden Gate Petroleum, Co. (Golden Gate) was liable for over $1 million in unpaid duties, even though the purchaser of the goods was its (now out-of-business) subsidiary, Golden Gate Petroleum International, Ltd. (Golden Gate Int'l), as Golden Gate was listed on the entry documents as the "importer of record."
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message to advise the trade of the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) system requirements needed to file a U.S. - Central America - Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) claim.