The U.S. is pushing for advance ruling procedures based on its own rules, a 48-hour target for release of goods, and a process which would set a four-hour guideline for clearing expedited shipments under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, according to documents claimed to be leaked from TTIP's customs and trade facilitation text. While neither the U.S. nor EU confirmed authenticity of the documents, both sides criticized conclusions made based on the texts. The customs text is one of 13 chapters leaked, according to Greenpeace Netherlands, which posted the texts (here).
The National Marine Fisheries Service is seeking input into the development of a trusted trader program for seafood imports, it said (here). Recommended by an administration task force in 2015 (see 1503160016), the trusted trader program “will provide benefits such as reduced targeting and inspections and enhanced streamlined entry into U.S. commerce for certified importers,” said NMFS. The program would be available for holders of International Fishery Trade Permits (IFTP) subject to recently proposed Seafood Import Monitoring Program documentation and recordkeeping requirements for high-risk seafood imports (see 1503160016), though NMFS is considering including other importers and members of the supply chain, such as customs brokers. NMFS said it will hold public webinars on the development of the program on May 4, May 10 and June 6. Comments are due June 28, and should address the following:
As progress continues on ACE and the International Trade Data System, the conversation is shifting to "what we're going to be able to see stemming from this new major IT capability," said Christa Brzozowski, Department of Homeland Security deputy assistant secretary, Trade Policy, Foreign Investment and Transport Security. The government will be looking for ways to "institutionalize" the gains made and "embed these principles and policies at the national level," she said at the April 27 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC).
CBP should announce mandatory ACE filing dates “as soon as possible” for any agencies or entry types for which mandatory filing dates have not yet been announced, said the Commercial Customs Advisory Committee (COAC) in a recommendation formally adopted at a meeting held April 27. Some importers surveyed say their brokers are waiting for the announcement of the deadlines, particularly for Food and Drug Administration data, before they start filing in ACE, while brokers need to know when agency data will be required so they can adequately plan their development and training efforts, said COAC members during the meeting.
CBP should take a new look at its penalty mitigation guidelines, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) recommended during its April 27 meeting. A more "uniform" application of mitigation policies, which were last updated in 2004, is needed "in light of technology advances, trusted trader programs, and inter-agency enforcement partnerships," the COAC Trade Enforcement and Revenue Collection subcommittee said. "Particularly in cases of less egregious violations, CBP should enforce and mitigate on more of an account-based, as opposed to transactional approach," it said.
Multiple members of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) voted against two recommendations related to a customs broker regulations update. The two controversial recommendations involved recordkeeping and where brokers may conduct customs business. Those recommendations were ultimately approved on April 27 by the full COAC alongside more than 30 recommendations produced by the broker regulations working group (see 1604250011). Most COAC recommendations are approved unanimously.
Mohawk Global Trade Advisors hired Adrienne Graddy as a senior advisor, the company said in a news release (here). Graddy, a licensed customs broker, previously worked in the "regulatory divisions at several of Chicago's most prominent businesses," said Mohawk.
Congress should move fast to pass miscellaneous tariff bill process legislation, trade groups and companies said in a April 20 letter to lawmakers (here). "Action on a new MTB process is long overdue," said Walmart, DuPont, several regional customs broker groups and others in the letter. "To boost the competitiveness of our industries and correct longstanding distortions in the U.S. tariff code, we strongly urge Congress to work expeditiously and jointly to pass a new MTB process that will eliminate distortions in the U.S. tariff code that undermine the competitiveness and job growth of our industries." The House is scheduled to vote on an MTB process reform bill on April 27 (see 1604210038).
CBP posted its agenda and some other agency documents for the upcoming Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) meeting on April 27. Among the posted items are a detailed look at planned recommendations for changes to customs broker regulations (here). The document includes a list of the proposed changes with any new or deleted language highlighted some brief descriptions of the logic behind the proposals. A member of the COAC broker regulations working group recently previewed many of the recommendations (see 1604220023). The agenda is (here).
Modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, requiring importers to issue more precise product declarations, import tariffs, and undercover investigations could complicate ISIS’ illicit trade of cultural antiquities, which some Iraqi officials estimate to be valued at $100 million overall, participants of an April 19 hearing of the House Financial Services Task Force to Investigate Terror Financing said. ISIS is believed to be smuggling stolen historical artifacts through routes spanning through Lebanon, Greece, and Bulgaria, and a large portion of the goods are thought to enter the U.S., as this country comprises 43 percent of the world’s art market, DePaul University law professor and State Department Cultural Property Advisory Committee member Patty Gerstenblith said during the hearing. That is nearly double the second-place United Kingdom. Terrorism sanctions on bootleggers and dealers would be a logical first step to stemming the flow of the snatched goods, as there is currently no general legal principle governing these illicit transports, Gerstenblith said.