U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted changes to the Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) since January 2012, which include the following changes related to the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS or KFTA):
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has not yet completed its programming to allow entry summary claims for Korea Free Trade Agreement (KFTA or KORUS) duty benefits to be filed using the ACS Automated Broker Interface (ABI). In the meantime, CBP sources and the agency's KFTA instructions list several alternatives to use for entry, and well as a post importation claim option (and form). KFTA takes effect for qualifying goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after March 15, 2012.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a document on the trade benefits from the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). ACE is the commercial trade processing system being developed to become the "single window" through which international traders will electronically provide all information needed by federal agencies for the import of cargo. CBP states that the benefits of ACE continue to grow as new capabilities are developed and deployed. The document lists the trade benefits based on functionality currently available in ACE and are organized by trade sector in addition to, in some cases, ACE Portal role.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection for Field Operations at the Port of New York/Newark has issued an Informational Pipeline notifying the trade community that palletizing containerized rice shipments at the time of export to the U.S. will help expedite any CBP Agriculture Inspections at the Port of New York/Newark for Khapra Beetle.
Officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently stated that importers who have not received a Generalized System of Preferences SPI “A” refund by March 31, 2012 should assume that the claim “fell through the cracks” and file a written refund request by the April 18, 2012 deadline to ensure those refunds are received.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its spreadsheet of ACE ESAR A2.2 (Initial Entry Types) programming issues.
At the February 21, 2012 COAC meeting, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials discussed ongoing work on the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs). They provided information on the post-entry processing CEEs would do for "trusted partners" and the benefits they would receive. CBP officials also stated that CEEs would be virtual ports and that the agency's regulations may need to be amended to "line up" with what the CEEs will do. COAC's Trade Facilitation Subcommittee also listed certain metrics that could be used to measure the success of the CEEs.
The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc., has posted the following U.S. Customs and Border Protection's presentation documents for the March 6-8, 2012 Trade Software Developer Technical Seminar. During the seminar, CBP officials will discuss programming changes for existing and new functionality scheduled to be delivered as part of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued a February 16, 2012 version of its Lacey Act Amendments frequently asked questions (FAQ) document, as the prior version was out of date, had broken links, and had imprecise text. Sources state that APHIS has refined the Importer of Record - Broker Responsibility Q&A to indicate that brokers who complete the paper Lacey Act declaration for imported plants and plant products have the same responsibility for accuracy as they do when filling out entry information. In addition, two Q&As on hand-carried passenger baggage and musical instruments have been added.
At the February 21, 2012 COAC meeting, CBP and COAC’s Global Supply Chain Security Subcommittee provided an update on various land border security issues. Officials discussed CBP’s development of C-TPAT for exports, possible Tier 3 status for Mexican and Canadian highway carriers, and the C-TPAT Web Portal 2.0, among other topics.