With deadlines for regulations implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act fast approaching and importer compliance with the Foreign Supplier Verification Program required in about two years, the Food and Drug Administration is faced with the increasingly imminent challenge of getting the word out to importers and foreign suppliers tasked with new responsibilities, said FDA officials at a meeting on FSMA implementation on April 23 in Washington, D.C.
The House Ways and Means Committee approved the four major trade bills up for consideration at its April 23 markup, following a full day of debate on the legislation. The committee ultimately sent to the House floor Trade Promotion Authority, Trade Adjustment Assistance, a preference package and a Customs Reauthorization bill. Committee lawmakers approved the same TPA, TAA and preference package bills the Senate Finance Committee endorsed the day before (see 1504230001). TPA passed in a partisan vote, with two Democrats joining Republicans in support. The other three bills passed by voice vote, a committee spokesman said.
ORLANDO, Fla. – The upcoming Food and Drug Administration pilot to test filing and release of FDA-regulated entries in the Automated Commercial Environment will start with drugs before expanding to other products, said Domenic Veneziano, FDA director of import operations, at the annual conference of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America April 22. The pilot, which will begin July 1, will start at three ports: Baltimore, Otay Mesa and Philadelphia, he said. The agency wants to make sure its IT systems are running smoothly before adding other FDA-regulated products to the pilot, but intends to eventually test all types of commodities before ACE cargo release becomes mandatory in November, said Veneziano. Medical devices will come after drugs in August, he said. Veneziano announced the FDA pilot would begin in July at a webinar last March (see 1503240065).
ORLANDO, Fla. -- CBP and the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America are set to launch the Broker Known Importer Program (BKIP) in the coming week, said agency and trade association leadership at the NCBFAA annual conference on Aug. 22. With functionality in the Automated Commercial Environment in place since January, CBP will issue a CSMS message next week detailing the voluntary program, which will lower the agency’s risk profile for an importer if their broker informs CBP through a flag checked at entry that it “knows” the importer and has advised the importer of its compliance responsibilities. The CSMS message will allow BKIP to “go live,” said Mary Jo Muoio of OHL Trade Services.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for April 13-17 in case they were missed.
ORLANDO, FLA. -- CBP included a revision to the definition of "customs business" and a proposed broker employment ratio within a set of changes to the agency's regulations in 19 CFR Part 111, said Troy Riley, executive director of CBP's Office of Commercial Targeting and Enforcement. Riley, who spoke at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference on April 22, discussed a number of the proposed regulatory updates, though he was unable to go into great detail because the changes are now undergoing a further review at the agency. The Part 111 update does not include continuing education requirements, he said.
ORLANDO, FLA. -- There's still some uncertainty as to whether CBP will ultimately require continuing education hours as part of a customs broker license, said Brenda Smith, assistant commissioner in CBP's Office of International Trade at the National Customs Broker & Forwarders Association of America conference on April 20. The agency is now in the process of reviewing whether it has the authority to make such a requirement and CBP will also need to look at all the pieces involved, she said. CBP has been considering for several years a proposal to require customs brokers to have 40 hours of continuing education for every three years (see 13041104).
ORLANDO, FLA. – CBP's Office of Regulations and Rulings is "preparing a number of proposed amendments" to customs broker regulations in 19 CFR Part 111, said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske while speaking at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America on April 21. Kerlikowske also lauded the movement of just-introduced customs legislation.
Drawback modernization, an increase in the de minimis level to $800, and an exemption from duties for container residue are components of the customs reauthorization bill set for inclusion in the package of trade legislation coming together in Congress, according to a summary of the draft bill from Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah (here). The customs reauthorization bill, introduced in the Senate (here), would also provide for enhanced trade enforcement, including databases of new importers and importer of record numbers, the ability for CBP to share unredacted samples of articles suspected to infringe intellectual property rights, and timelines for formal CBP investigations of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion. Highlights of the summary, which was provided by Hatch in anticipation of a markup scheduled for April 22 (see 1504200054), are as follows:
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices for April 20 (note that some may also be given separate headlines):