Sept. 17-20 International Trade Administration renewable energy trade mission to the Philippines and Thailand -- http://www.ofr.gov/OFRUpload/OFRData/2012-16595_PI.pdf
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is beginning work to update its border procedures though reviews of its hold statistics and document review abilities, said John Verbeten, director of the operations and policy branch at the FDA. Verbeten spoke Sept. 10 at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) Government Affairs conference. It remains unclear exactly how much progress has been made on these efforts and the trade community would like to see more interaction with the agency on the issues, said Express Association of America (EAA) Executive Director Mike Mullen, who has been leading an industry charge to improve FDA's role at the border.
Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Richard Lidinsky removed the item on container freight rate indices from the FMC's Sept. 12 agenda "because in my opinion our internal legal analysis of this important issue was incomplete," he told us Sept. 12. "Before we vote to take this important step I wanted every legal aspect as clear as possible."
Granting Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status and repealing the Jackson-Vanick amendment, which limits trade with communist countries, is being held up by "presidential politics at this point," said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), speaking at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association (NCBFAA) Government Affairs conference Sept. 11. Roskam, who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, expects "that it will get done," but every day "we wait is a day that American companies are disadvantaged as they are pursuing the Russian marketplace," he said.
CBP won't go through with plans for a pilot that would waive local broker permitting requirements, said Elena Ryan, CBP's acting director, Trade Facilitation and Administration. Ryan spoke on a panel on rewriting broker regulations at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) Sept. 10. CBP previously said it was considering a pilot program that would waive the requirement to maintain a place of business within the district where customs business is being conducted.
Three import-export industry groups support the Hitachi Home Electronics (America) petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and give force back to a 42-year-old federal statute that bars U.S. Customs and Border Protection from dragging its feet on import duty protests (CED Aug 16 p5), the groups said in separate friend-of-the-court briefs. Filing the briefs were the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI), the Customs and International Trade Bar Association (CITBA) and the National Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Association (NCBFFA).
The threat of drastic budget cuts as a result of sequestration has created significant uncertainty within CBP on how it would affect the agency and the flow of goods in and out of the U.S., said a CBP official, speaking Sept. 10 at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) Government Affairs conference. "If I just blindly say the support will be there," after sequestration "to the same degree it is now, I think I would be lying and I would lose all credibility," said Al Gina, assistant commissioner for CBP's Office of International Trade.
The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) started offering training on antidumping evasion around the country in field offices to help keep investigators informed on the issue, said Lev Kubiak, director of the IPR Center. Kubiak spoke at the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference Sept. 10. Kubiak said both government and industry presenters are providing the training. The IPR Center is also making an effort to improve post-investigative analysis, he said. The center is getting about 270 leads per month, with about 50 of those legitimate, he said.
Sept. 9 NCBFAA board, Transportation Committee, and Customs Committee meet, Washington Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. -- http://www.ncbfaa.org/Scripts/4Disapi.dll/4DCGI/cms/review.html?Action=CMS_Document&DocID=12746&Time=-220982284&MenuKey=about
The Court of Appeals’ decision in Hitachi Home Electronics (America), Inc. v. United States “not only deprives importers of timely review of protests, but also allows Customs to block their access to judicial review,” said the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) in an amicus brief in support of Hitachi’s request for a Supreme Court hearing. Hitachi is appealing the October 2011 ruling of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that the statute does not require CBP to decide customs protests within two years, even though 19 USC 1515(a) says it “shall” do so.