A surety is on the hook for $2.2 million in uncollected duties even though the underlying bonds had missing information and errors, the Court of International Trade said in a decision issued Aug. 10. Hartford Fire Insurance argued the bonds violated customs regulations and were not enforceable contracts, but the court found those errors didn’t invalidate them, especially given that Hartford accepted premiums and submitted the bonds to CBP.
Customs brokerages, law firms, and other members of the trade community are angling to secure eligibility of distilled spirits for substitution drawback under new regulations set to take effect Feb. 24, industry sources said in recent interviews. On that date, simplified substitution drawback enacted through the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act will take effect, generally enabling substitution drawback to cover imports and exports with the same eight-digit HTS or Schedule B number. But questions surround whether CBP will deem distilled spirit exports eligible for substitution, due to the agency’s historical drawback treatment regarding alcohol-related excise taxes and technical classifications of U.S. production facilities.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 24-28 in case they were missed.
CBP hopes a long-discussed update to customs broker regulations in 19 CFR Part 111 will be considered "deregulatory" under the Trump administration's executive order on reducing regulatory burdens (see 1702070048), Robert Altneu, chief of CBP's Trade and Commercial Regualtions Branch, said July 26. That executive order requires that there be two offsetting regulations for every new "significant" regulation, and CBP now believes the Part 111 update could be such an offset, he said. Altneu spoke during a webinar hosted by CBP and the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America.
A customs broker's vessel entry and clearance services do not constitute customs business, CBP said in a recent ruling. The activities performed by the broker, Schenker, are all either not covered by CBP regulations on customs business or are specifically exempt, CBP said in ruling HQ H260075. Because the activities do not have to be performed by a customs broker, Schenker may expand its vessel entry and clearance services to other ports without having to get additional broker district permits, CBP said in the ruling, issued in April.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 17-21 in case they were missed.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its updated 2017 regulatory agenda for CBP (here). The agenda doesn't include any new rulemakings involving trade. Previously listed rulemakings, including on the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (here) and Importer Security Filings (here), continue to be on the agenda.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 10-14 in case they were missed.
The Trump administration in the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation will push for "disciplines on the use of customs brokers," for Canada and Mexico to raise their de minimis levels, and to eliminate the binational dispute settlement process for challenging duties, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said in its renegotiation objectives released July 17 (here). Another objective is to provide for streamlined and expedited customs treatment for express shipments, including for shipments valued over the de minimis threshold.
CBP is extending the comment period to Aug. 14 on an existing information collection related to regulations on customs brokers. CBP proposes (here) to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the information collected but with an increase in the estimated burden hours associated with the collection, due to more applicants expected.