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The longer the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) expiration continues, the less likely renewal legislation will include retroactivity provisions, said Marideth Sandler, CEO of Sandler Trade, during a Nov. 7 webinar on GSP. The webinar was co-sponsored by Sandler Trade, the Alliance of GSP Countries and the Coalition for GSP. Despite routine implementation of GSP duty retroactivity dating back to the program’s 1976 inception, political concerns render retroactivity uncertain, said Sandler.
NEWTON, Mass. -- CBP and other federal agencies with a role in trade have been taking a look at operations during October's federal government shutdown, and will apply the lessons learned in the event of another hiatus, said Richard DiNucci, acting assistant commissioner at CBP's Office of International Trade, at the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade's Northeast Cargo Symposium on Nov. 7. The Environmental Protection Agency in particular was singled out for its failure to process Notices of Arrival required for pesticide shipments during the shutdown, he said. As a result, EPA is not only rethinking its shutdown procedures, but its entire Notice of Arrival system.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 28-Nov. 1 in case they were missed.
Customs brokers and importer self-filers in CBP's Simplified Entry pilot will no longer be required to have Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) status to test the program, CBP said in a notice. The agency is expanding the pilot program and officially rebranding it as the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Cargo Release test, said CBP.
Senate Democrats Push 40 Bills as Part of Manufacturing Campaign, Includes CHB 'Customer Rules' Bill
Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and 20 other Senate Democrats launched the Manufacturing Jobs for America initiative on Oct. 29, a campaign designed to push forward 40 trade-related bills (here). Among the bills is the FAIR Enforcement Against Duty Evasion Act. The legislation, yet to be introduced in this Congress, would create “know your customer” rules for customs brokers, implement improvements to the importer record database, and permanently eliminate the AD “bonding-in-lieu” provision for new shippers. Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., last introduced the legislation in 2011 (see 11092222).
CBP released the agenda for the Nov. 15 meeting with the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (COAC) in Washington, D.C. CBP also said the meeting will be available online and registration is available (here).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Oct. 21-25 in case they were missed.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., wants more information from data broker Experian. In a Wednesday letter (http://1.usa.gov/1am3zpA), Rockefeller asked the company for more specifics about its subsidiary Court Ventures, which allegedly sold sensitive personal information to an identity fraud service in Vietnam, according to an investigation by Internet security news site KrebsonSecurity (http://bit.ly/15W0gEb). The Senate Commerce Committee, which Rockefeller chairs, has been investigating the data broker industry since last October (WID Oct 11 p9) when Rockefeller sent letters to nine data brokers, including Experian, asking for information on each company’s business practices (http://1.usa.gov/16zWQ72). “The committee’s investigation has focused to date on how companies including Experian collect and sell consumer information for marketing purposes,” Rockefeller wrote in his recent letter to Experian. “However, if these recent news accounts are accurate, they raise serious questions about whether Experian as a company has appropriate practices in place for vetting its customers and sharing sensitive consumer data with them, regardless of the particular line of business.” Experian, which did not comment on Rockefeller’s letter, has until Nov. 8 to comply with the senator’s request. The company did give a brief statement to The New York Times Thursday, saying Experian had “worked closely and in full cooperation” with the government during its investigation of Court Ventures (http://nyti.ms/17MnJVT).
Correction: CBP mistakenly listed a number of revoked customs broker licenses as reinstated (see 13102504).