The Commerce Department has the statutory authority to conduct expedited countervailing duty reviews, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held April 25. Reversing a Court of International Trade ruling concerning imports of certain softwood lumber products from Canada, Judges Timothy Dyk, Jimmie Reyna and Richard Taranto said that authority for the review process is found in the Uruguay Round Agreement Act's enactment of certain provisions that favor individual company determinations and the URAA's "grant of regulatory-implementation power to Commerce." Taranto, the opinion's author, added that logically, it is clear why an expedited process may be needed to ensure that the individualized determination preference of the statute is implemented.
A request to fund at least 600 additional CBP officers and staff at the Office of Field Operations is at the heart of a letter from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America; 11 other national travel, cargo or ports trade groups; and a host of local and regional trade groups. The letter, sent to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees, said wait times for both travelers and cargo at ports of entry are growing, especially as CBP officers from air, sea and northern border ports are being assigned to 60-day stints along the Southwest border to process migrants walking into the U.S. from Mexico.
CBP will on May 20 deploy automated Form 6051D detention notices in ACE, including for Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act detentions, the agency said in an April 21 CSMS message. “This enhancement will give importers the ability to view, search, and respond to CBP Form 6051D using the ACE Forms application accessible through the ACE Secure Data Portal,” CBP said.
Though only required for customs brokers that apply for a national license after CBP’s broker modernization final rule took effect this past December, CBP sees customs broker supervision plans as a “best practice for all brokers, and we would encourage all brokers to have a supervision plan in place,” said Shari McCann, director of CBP’s commercial operations, revenue and entry branch, on April 18.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The U.S. this week warned ship owners and service providers of new “deceptive practices” being used by Russia to evade the oil price cap, particularly for oil exported through the Eastern Siberia Pacific Ocean (ESPO) pipeline and ports on the eastern coast of Russia. Shippers, traders and others should watch for several red flags to avoid helping Russia evade the cap, the Office of Foreign Assets Control said in an April 17 alert.
CBP is aware that some customs brokers may need additional time to report their employees in the Modernized ACE Portal by the April 14 deadline due to technical issues, the agency said in a CSMS message. Some brokers have “encountered ACE technical issues tied to increased volume of employee reporting,” including “the inability to edit individual employee's information due to an 'invalid page' error and bulk uploads not returning successes even when the data elements are all correct,” CBP said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP sent a reminder to customs brokers that the deadline for brokers to satisfy employee reporting requirements in the ACE Portal is April 14. According to the CSMS message, if a broker needs an extension, they should email the Broker Management Branch at brokermanagement@cbp.dhs.gov before April 14 to request more time. "Such requests should explain the broker's situation and how much additional time is needed," CBP said.
CBP released a new “slick sheet” April 10 with guidance for customs brokers on what to do when faced with cybersecurity incidents. “The new resource makes recommendations on how to prevent, respond to, and recover from potential cyber-attacks on customs broker data systems, from proactively putting in place plans and preventative IT controls to resuming normal business operations upon system remediation,” CBP said in a news release.