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.
Sept. 5 Census Bureau webinar on Filing Export Information Electronically - The ABCs of AES, 1 p.m. http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellaneous/cb12-162.html
CBP announced modifications to the National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) test regarding the simplified entry functionality in the Automated Commercial Environment. It modified the test's participant selection criteria to reflect that the C-TPAT status of an importer for whom a customs broker files a Simplified Entry is no longer an eligibility criterion. The test is no longer limited to nine participants and CBP is accepting applications from interested parties wishing to participate in the test. Prior unsuccessful applicants must reapply to be considered, it said.
CBP will allow members of military reserves to sit for the Oct. 3 customs exam, allowing such members as the sole exception to a prohibition on government employees taking the test. The exception may only be temporary as it considers a finalized policy, said CBP. The new exception is likely the result of a lawsuit brought against the agency and settled earlier this year. Federal customs regulations bar officers or employees of the U.S. Government from being licensed as customs brokers or sitting for the exam.