A waste-recycling company based in Englewood, Colo., and two of its executives, were convicted Dec. 21 of multiple counts of mail and wire fraud, obstruction and environmental crimes related to illegally disposing electronic waste and smuggling, said Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Executive Recycling Inc. and its officers allegedly defrauded government and businesses by saying that it was disposing of cathode ray tubes (CRT) using Environmental Protection Agency-approved methods in the U.S., while it was actually exporting the waste abroad.
The sharing of client contact information, including names and address, for security verification purposes would be permissible in certain situations, said CBP in a Nov. 21 ruling. The ruling, HQ H221355, is in response to a ruling request from Alan Klestadt, a lawyer at Grunfeld, Desiderio. Klestadt, asked the agency to say whether the release of contact information to third parties for security verifications is allowed under current regulations.
The Court of International Trade ordered a customs broker to pay a $19,000 penalty for violations of several provisions of the Customs regulations, including failing to notify the importer of record when doing business with an unlicensed person; conducting business without a valid power of attorney; misclassification of entries; and failure to exercise due diligence and responsible supervision and control. The customs broker failed to respond to any of CBP’s pre-penalty notices, penalty notices, and final demands for payments, and did not respond to any notices or motions in this case, so was declared to be in default. As the defendant was in default, CIT took all of CBP’s factual allegations as true, and granted CBP’s motion to collect the penalties.
CBP Los Angeles/Long Beach is updating its port procedures for the disposition of merchandise refused by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it said in a public bulletin dated Dec. 21. The bulletin also notified the public that the Federal Destruction and Redelivery Team (Team FDR) will process documentation on FDA refused merchandise, it said.
Jan. 8 USA-ITA Seminar on Retailing in China, noon, PwC, 300 Madison Avenue, New York -- http://www.usaita.com/index.php?option=com_civicrm&task=civicrm/event/info&Itemid=141&reset=1&id=34
As business interests again pressed the government to intervene in the East/Gulf Coast longshoremen dispute, the International Longshoremen's Association outlined its disagreements with the shippers' contract offer, and ports began to prepare for a strike beginning Dec. 30.
The Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters (I.E. Canada) voiced some concerns for the requirement to make entry for residue as part of CBP's planned pilot program. CBP is in the process of developing a pilot program that would test new requirements for filing entries on residue contained within Instruments of International Traffic (IIT). I.E. Canada filed the comments with CBP ahead of a planned Federal Register notice detailing the pilot.
The Census Bureau released its schedule for Automated Export System seminars and AESPcLink workshops for 2013. At each event, training will be provided by Census, CBP, and the Bureau of Industry and Security at the seminar on the first day. These experts will cover the filing requirements of the Foreign Trade Regulations, how to classify commodities in Schedule B, EAR compliance, enforcement of the FTR, and provide a thorough overview of the AES. The second day will offer a half day AESPcLink Workshop.
The two customs reauthorization bills recently introduced in the House would both make several changes to the process and rules governing drawback, including a revision to the formula for calculating the drawback amount.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 10-14 in case they were missed.