The International Trade Commission has released a list of the statistical changes to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule approved by the Committee for Statistical Annotation of Tariff Schedules (484(f) Committee) to take effect on January 1, 2012. These changes are included in the ITC's preliminary version of the 2012 HTS, which has been updated to correct certain omissions.
Officials at the Softwood Lumber Board state that the new fee on softwood lumber imports of $0.35 per thousand board feet will not be electronically collected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection using the Automated Broker Interface on January 1, 2012, the date the fee begins. Instead, the fee, which only affects about 100 importers, will be submitted by importers directly to the Softwood Lumber Board, on a quarterly basis. The Board is planning to issue instructions on the fee's quarterly submission in January 2012.
The Court of International Trade has ruled, due to untimely claims, it cannot grant relief to two companies that sought refunds of EU beef hormone dispute duties assessed on merchandise entered after the duties were retroactively terminated. According to the CIT, the companies' complaints were filed more than two years after the action that triggered accrual of their claims -- which was the date CBP liquidated the entries and not the date of the CAFC's 2010 ruling that the retaliatory duties were terminated by operation of law in 2007.
The Federal Maritime Commission is seeking comments on ways to make the tariff filing exemption provided to licensed non-vessel-operating common carriers who have agreed to Negotiated Rate Arrangements (NRAs) with their shippers more useful, including its possible extension to foreign-based non-vessel-operating common carriers not licensed by the Federal Maritime Commission.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which began processing Generalized System of Preferences duty refunds in early December for entries made during the period of January 1, 2011 through November 4, 2011, expects that all refunds for entries that were filed via ABI with the Special Program Indicator (SPI) "A" will be issued by the end of February 2012.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing the issuance of Harmonized System Update 1108. This update contains 577 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records and 118 harmonized tariff records.
The Trade Support Network has issued its November 2011 Monthly Committee Report, which states it has updated and resubmitted its request1 for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to add programming that allows non-ABI filers to generate post summary (pre-liquidation) amendments and corrections using the ACE Portal for entry summary data initially filed and accepted in the ACE Portal.
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America has issued a White Paper on the need for customs brokers to transition to ACE now, saying "it's necessary, it's desirable, and it's urgent." NCBFAA's Board believes that it is no longer a question of whether to migrate to ACE, but when, and states that it is not feasible to wait for ACE to be finished before attempting to use it, nor is it plausible to rely on it being abandoned. While much work remains to be done, CBP has recently begun to show good progress and has adopted essentially all of the recommendations for functional development outlined in the initial NCBFAA White Papers. It is time for the brokerage industry to support that development and accept the inevitable.
The State Department has issued a proposed rule to amend 22 CFR Parts 120, 122, 126, 127 and 129 of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations regarding the definitions of broker and brokering activity and related provisions. The proposed revisions are intended to clarify the scope of brokering activities, registration, prior approval and guidance, requirements and exemptions, reporting and recordkeeping, etc. The State Department is also proposing certain revisions to the DS-2032 form, the annual brokering report, and the brokering prior approval application.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has made all sections of the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) user requirements available for download. CBP has posted a .zip file that contains 76 documents for Appendices A through U, Air In-Bond, Bill of Lading, Border Cargo Release, Drawback, Entry Summary, Importer Security Filing, Etc. Download all sections of ABI user requirements here.