TACOMA, Wash. -- CBP will put on hold some customs broker modernization efforts in order to consider a more expansive revision to the regulations, said CBP Assistant Commissioner Brenda Smith while meeting with reporters during the agency's West Coast Trade Symposium on May 27. While CBP recently announced progress in the required regulatory process, the agency will instead take another look at available options, she said. Smith said she could not discuss the specific problems within the package that resulted in the pause.
Lawmakers are likely to address a controversial provision in the Senate's Trade Promotion Authority legislation that would bar TPA mechanisms to close a trade deal with Malaysia, as part of an expected Customs Reauthorization conference, said a Senate aide close to the process on May 26. Malaysia is one of 12 total negotiating parties in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The aide declined to give more details on the legislative approach to tackling the provision.
Some five months out from the Nov. 1 deadline for cargo release in the Automated Commercial Environment, filers and software developers are shifting into overdrive to implement Partner Government Agency (PGA) message set requirements, said customs brokers and programmers in interviews. Given the large volume of imports regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, that agency’s release of its final Supplemental Guide on May 12 marks an important step, followed closely by the draft release of CBP’s ACE Business Rules implementation guide three days later.
The Supreme Court on May 26 denied a petition to hear an appeal of Trek Leather, setting in stone a controversial court ruling that some importers fear will expand the liability of corporate officers and employees for customs violations. Tucked without comment in a lengthy order sheet also denying a hearing to scores of other cases (here), the denial of certiorari lets stand a September decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that found Harish Shadadpuri liable for penalties for his corporation’s failure to declare assists on entry documentation, even though the corporation acted as importer of record (see 14091703).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its Spring 2015 regulatory agenda for CBP (here). The agenda does not include any new trade-related rulemakings, though a planned rulemaking on customs broker continuing education requirements was moved to among the agency's "long-term actions" without a target date. It also continues to include mentions of Importer Security Filing (ISF) rulemakings.
The performance of customs regimes are often greatly affected by the work of customs brokers, said World Customs Organization Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya while speaking to the International Federation of Customs Brokers Associations. The WCO is surveying its members on institutional frameworks for customs brokers in consideration of the "need to maintain a quality service," said the WCO (here). The IFCBA "expressed an interest in working with Customs to adjust their way of doing business to the evolving trade environment, including electronic data transfer," said the WCO. "They also discussed the need to provide capacity building for brokers and to improve integrity."
CBP posted a long set of questions and answers on the agency's updated approach to Importer Security Filing (ISF) enforcement (here). The questions were submitted during a recent webinar on the new ISF approach (see 1505060013). Among other things, CBP addressed the liability for customs brokers for ISF filing. "The ISF Importer is responsible for the timely, accurate and complete filing," said CBP. "The [customs house broker] as the ISF Filer does not [bear] this liability from CBP’s perspective."
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 11-15 in case they were missed.
CBP posted a draft version of long-awaited Automated Commercial Environment cargo release business processes on May 15 (here). The draft is a "living document" and CBP will consider submitted comments for the next draft, said the agency (here). The processes document is expected to function as the "cornerstone" for both the trade and port personnel, an agency official recently said (see 1504270018).
The Senate Customs Reauthorization legislation is only a “piecemeal” approach to strengthening U.S. trade remedy law, and the bill could hamper U.S. industry and CBP’s ability to monitor U.S. imports, said a group of importers in a recent letter to the House Ways and Means Committee. The American Apparel and Footwear Association, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America and the International Wood Products Association, among others, signed onto the letter.