The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, International Wood Products Association and American Association of Exporters and Importers were among groups that asked House and Senate Conferees in a Dec. 3 letter (here) to ditch the provisions of the ENFORCE Act and instead include the PROTECT Act's antidumping/countervailing duty language within a final bill. A final bill may come as soon as this week as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., included "Possible Consideration of the Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 644 - Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015" within his weekly schedule (here). The Conference Committee also scheduled a public meeting for Dec. 7 (here).
Congress voted to approve surface transportation reauthorization legislation that would increase customs user fees, including the merchandise processing fee (MPF) and broker permit fees, on Dec. 3. The bill provides funding for federal highway and other transportation projects through 2020. The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (here), which also includes reauthorization for the Export-Import Bank, will next go to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., appointed three former House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairmen to complete customs reauthorization legislation, Ryan said (here). The appointments followed a House vote on Dec. 1 that approved proceeding with a conference to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the customs bills (here). Ryan named Reps. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio and Dave Reichert, R-Wash., to represent the House Republicans in the conference committee. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., chose Reps. Sandy Levin, D-Mich., and Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., as the House Democrats on the committee, Pelosi said (here).
FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said she disagrees the agency has been “dramatically shoved aside” with the FCC’s adoption of the open Internet order to halt ISPs from blocking or degrading site services. “It’s important to note how limited the real world impact of this restriction of the FTC’s jurisdiction will be,” she said Thursday at a Georgetown University Law School’s Center on Privacy and Technology event on both agencies enforcing privacy regulations. But Jeff Brueggeman, AT&T vice president-global public policy, said on a later panel the industry is concerned about potential inconsistent enforcement actions by the two agencies.
FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said she disagrees the agency has been “dramatically shoved aside” with the FCC’s adoption of the open Internet order to halt ISPs from blocking or degrading site services. “It’s important to note how limited the real world impact of this restriction of the FTC’s jurisdiction will be,” she said Thursday at a Georgetown University Law School’s Center on Privacy and Technology event on both agencies enforcing privacy regulations. But Jeff Brueggeman, AT&T vice president-global public policy, said on a later panel the industry is concerned about potential inconsistent enforcement actions by the two agencies.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its Fall 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (here). The agenda includes a new rulemaking on the modernization of customs broker regulations (here). A source of discussion for several years now, the inclusion of the rulemaking for broker regulations marks a step toward formal action. CBP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith recently said a proposed rule on Part 111 may face some delay due the Automated Commercial Environment, which is seen as a priority (see 1511040068). The agenda mentions June of 2016 as a target date for the proposed rulemaking.
The elimination of "hybrid" customs filings that are both in paper form and electronic may force some companies to revert to paper filing, a worrisome prospect that "could severely impact the economy," said UPS in comments to CBP (here). Any "process that requires a full paper submission seems to contrast" with CBP's automation goal, the company said." Neither CBP, the [Partner Government Agencies] nor the Trade have the human capital to return to such an antiquated process," it said. The company's comments were in response to CBP's interim final rule and proposal that outlined the agencies plans to make the Automated Commercial Environment mandatory and wind down the Automated Commercial System (see 1510090017).
A second protest cannot be filed on an entry after denial of the first, even if filed by a different person, said the Court of International Trade on Nov. 9 as it dismissed an importer’s lawsuit challenging the valuation of two entries of pencils (here). Design International Group had already had two protests on the two entries denied on when it filed a third protest on the two entries, still within the 180 day time limit for protest filing. Though 19 USC 1514(c)(1)(D) generally allows only one protest for each entry of merchandise, Design International cited an exception for “separate protests filed by different authorized persons,” noting the first two protests were filed by its customs broker, while the third was filed by its attorney. CIT, citing previous case law, ruled that the exception for different authorized persons does is not applicable when the first protest has already been denied. According to the court, allowing additional protests when a protest has already been denied would allow an unending series of protests, each protesting the previous denial.
CBP is "working smarter and faster to keep the engine of our economy running smoothly and safely, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said in a blog post (here). "CBP has made tremendous progress in streamlining our operations, going paperless wherever possible, and working closely with foreign governments, cargo carriers, brokers, and their customers to get lawful cargo into the country as quickly and securely as possible," he said. The agency is involved in a wide swath of transactions, much of which goes unseen by the general public, he said. "That mouse-click by an online shopper sets a complex chain of events into motion that involves CBP nearly every step of the way," said Kerlikowske. "If it’s an order for a finished product from overseas, it’s subject to CBP inspection. Even if it’s for a product 'made in the U.S.A.,' it’s possible that that one or more parts for that product were imported. With such a massive universe of products entering the U.S. marketplace, the stakes are high. We process more than $6 billion in imports and $4 billion in exports – more than $2.4 trillion a year."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Nov. 2-6 in case they were missed.