Send event information for inclusion in the International Trade Today Calendar toITTNews@warren-news.com.
Send event information for inclusion in the International Trade Today Calendar toITTNews@warren-news.com.
The Federal Maritime Commission should take a number of steps to help alleviate port congestion issues related to "unusual occurrences such as major force majeure events or labor-related difficulties," said the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America in a letter to agency Chairman Mario Cordero. As the possibility of strikes at the west coast ports increases, the FMC should consider putting in place procedures to help during port disruptions, said the NCBFAA. The group previously suggested the FMC take action on this but "we have not heard anything further concerning this and accordingly do not know whether the Commission has taken any steps to address this issue," the letter said.
CBP and the Transportation Security Administration should further consult with small and medium-sized forwarders before moving ahead with proposed rules for the Air Cargo Advanced Screening (ACAS) program, said four trade groups in letters to the two agencies. ACAS, now in a pilot phase, has not included in the pilot smaller forwarders "that rely on an extensive network of independent agents at overseas airports" and for whom "the size and scope of their technology infrastructure" is widely varied, the letter said. The groups, which represent "companies that do not own planes but instead arrange for the shipment of goods by air," asked that more work be done to determine how the ACAS program will affect small and medium-sized forwarders before they are brought under its requirements.
Dozens of industry organizations called on Congress to repeal a law that requires 100 percent scanning on U.S. bound maritime cargo containers in a June 2 letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson. While DHS aims to comply with the law, another two-year extension is necessary due to financial and practical constraints, Johnson told the House Judiciary Committee on May 29 (here). The industry signatories, made up of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, the National Retail Federation, the American Apparel and Footwear Association and 67 other organizations, also expressed support for the two-year extension to the implementation deadline.
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The CBP New York/New Jersey field office will deny any protests or requests for extensions of liquidation that are meant to delay liquidation until the renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, it said an in informational pipeline on May 29. Instead, importers should continue to follow CBP’s directive to use SPI “A” to claim GSP and pay duties so that CBP can process refunds if GSP is renewed retroactively (see 13071514).
CBP said the following customs broker license, as well as any and all permits, were canceled with prejudice:
The FTC dropped a wide-ranging slate of legislative recommendations in its long-awaited report on data brokers, released Tuesday (http://1.usa.gov/1nQzIdY). “We have concluded that there are serious privacy concerns with data broker practices,” said Chairwoman Edith Ramirez in a conference call. Observers told us it was the most detailed, comprehensive, albeit not surprising, government report yet on the data broker industry. Since late last year, data brokers have received heightened scrutiny -- and some criticism -- from both the White House and Congress. The report contains “considerable new and additional information,” Ramirez said, pointing to its focus on specific data broker practices. “We're adding to a very important conversation."
The Food and Drug Administration’s proposed rule on sanitary transportation could impose responsibilities on entities that lack the knowledge of food safety to successfully perform them, said the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America in comments to the agency dated May 22. The proposal's definition of "shipper" is so broad that it could cover customs brokers in some circumstances, and could include multiple supply chain participants for the same shipment, said NCBFAA