Logistics industry associations continued to criticize a definition in the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed food transport regulations that they say could subject logistics providers to onerous requirements even though they are not in a position to comply. Under the agency’s February proposed rule on sanitary transportation of food (see 14020301), the "shipper" responsible for setting food safety procedures for a given shipment would be defined as the “person who initiates a shipment of food by motor vehicle or rail vehicle.” In recently submitted comments on the proposed rule, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) and the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) say that definition would make logistics providers responsible for providing information they are in no position to know, like packaging and temperature requirements.
A proposal by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to prohibit the coercion of drivers to violate trucking rules would “open a Pandora's box of unintended consequences” for customs brokers and forwarders, said the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America in comments dated Aug. 7. Because refusing drivers that are about to violate hours of service limits could be considered coercion under the proposal, the end result would be cargo sitting at docks because the driver wouldn’t be able to move it and the arranger of transportation wouldn’t be able to call the trucking company to get a new driver, said NCBFAA.
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The Eastern New York U.S. District Court on July 31 dismissed a lawsuit brought by a New England furniture store against its customs broker for gross negligence when filing entry documentation. Cardi’s Furniture said FedEx Trade Networks ignored its instructions to list a furniture wholesaler as importer of record on an entry. FedEx countered that Cardi’s was only trying to evade antidumping duties on wooden bedroom furniture from China. The court found that it didn’t have to decide, because FedEx was protected by a contract clause that limited entry-related lawsuits to 75 days after the date of liquidation.
The joint CBP and industry working group effort to improve entry summary decided on some initial steps during the group's first meeting July 15-17, according to a description of the first session posted by the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA). The group, known as the Simplified Summary Working Group, "was established to further improve the Entry Summary process and policies to improve usability and efficiency by modernizing the post- release processes to align with current business practices or the trade community," it said.
Importers markedly improved the accuracy and timeliness of Importer Security Filing submissions in the past year, according to the “Import Operations and Compliance Benchmark Study” published in July by American Shipper magazine and BPE Global. About 75% of the 250 importers and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) surveyed now say that 95-100% of their ISF declarations are accurate (up from about 65% in 2013), and about the same proportion also say their ISF declarations are timely. CBP began ISF enforcement last year. The survey also says importers are automating more compliance and operations processes, and have increased use of duty avoidance programs by about 5%.
CBP Los Angeles will hold a seminar on "Steel Identification, Classification and Trade Law" on Sept.16-17, it said in a public bulletin. The seminar, which will include presentations from technical, commercial and legal experts from the industry, is meant to "enhance the knowledge level of steel importations" for the trade and customs brokers, it said. Registration is required by Aug. 25. The seminar will be at the Port of Los Angeles, 425 South Palos Verdes St., San Pedro, Calif.
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The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service needs to rethink “exorbitant” and “unfair” fee increases for agricultural quarantine and inspection services, according to a July 24 letter from 27 trade associations including the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America and the American Apparel & Footwear Association. The agency should withdraw the proposed rules it issued in April on AQI and overtime fee rates (see 14042321) so that industry can review the underlying data, they said.
A bonded carrier of merchandise imported under a transportation and exportation entry is only responsible for ensuring delivery, but CBP may ask for documents showing exportation in order to prove the merchandise was delivered, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 28 as it affirmed a judgment against C.H. Robinson. The carrier had been ordered by the Court of International Trade in 2012 to pay $106,407.86 in unpaid duties, taxes and interest for a shipment of wearing apparel from China that was allegedly diverted into the U.S. while en route to Mexico. The Appeals Court agreed that the CF 7512s stamped by a Laredo customs broker at an unmonitored CBP facility aren’t enough to prove C.H. Robinson fulfilled its responsibility to deliver the merchandise.