According to CBP officials, the upcoming ACE Simplified Entry Pilot, at this point, will exclude entries that have other government agency (OGA) requirements, such as Food and Drug Administration or Fish and Wildlife Service requirements, etc. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials also state that Simplified Entry will seek "best available" data that can be updated later. In addition, the submission of an ISF will still be required for the ocean mode, but the submission of ISF-like data will be voluntary for other modes.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a notice announcing that 469 Customs broker licenses are revoked by operation of law, without prejudice, for failure to file the 2009 triennial status report and applicable fee.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has newly posted the recording and presentation slides for its October 24, 2011 webinar on the ITDS Product Information Committee's draft report on the results of three pilot studies conducted to validate the business case for using e-commerce data, such as global product numbers/codes and electronic product catalogs. This webinar is part of a series of live trade webinars that CBP is hosting. Each webinar is made available for subsequent on-demand viewing online. Topics of previous webinars include ACE Courtesy Notice of Liquidation, the role of the broker, simplified entry, ACE Post Summary Corrections, etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted the minutes of the October 4, 2011 Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) meeting. At this meeting, CBP and COAC discussed topics including the role of the broker, simplified entry and summary, intellectual property rights enforcement, antidumping and countervailing duties, the global supply chain, etc.
On November 9, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced its plans to conduct a test of Simplified Entry in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). While the initial test phase is only for the air mode, CBP has issued a news release stating that it is planning similar test phases in the ocean and rail environments for early to mid-2012. CBP also clarifies that the deadline for voluntary participants for the air mode test phase is November 17, 2011, and those volunteering must include information regarding their volume of entries and the ports expected to be utilized.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice announcing its plan to conduct a National Customs Automation Program (NCAP)1 test on ACE simplified entry capability. The test will reduce the information participants must file with CBP prior to arrival in the U.S. to 12 required, and three optional data elements. The initial phase of the test will only be for the air transportation mode and is available for nine accounts. Parties interested in participating in the test should contact CBP by November 17, 2011.
The Agricultural Marketing Service has issued a final rule, effective November 9, 2011, that establishes a Christmas Tree Promotion, Research, and Information Order and program that will be financed by an assessment (fee or tax) of $0.15 each on U.S. domestic and imported fresh cut Christmas tree. As ABI is not yet programmed for the fee, AMS sources state that importers will have to pay the fee 30 calendar days after importation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has released a document on the eligibility criteria for the initial test of the Document Image System (DIS) in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). CBP states that to promote the filing of transactions and expedite the transition to ACE, CBP has determined that access to the capabilities within the DIS will be available to ACE entry summary filers and for ACE entry summaries only. This includes ACE entry summaries certified for release.
In comments to the Food and Drug Administration, the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. called on the FDA to keep the role of “U.S. agent” for purposes of Prior Notice filings for food separate from the role of “U.S. agent” for the payment of FDA’s new high hourly fees to re-inspect a foreign facility under the Food Safety Modernization Act.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an updated version of a June 23, 2011 memorandum on 520(d) post importation preference claims to newly state that a 520(d) claim does not require a Post Entry Amendment (PEA), a Post Summary Correction (PSC) or a 19 USC 1514 Protest. The new memo also states that 520(d) claims can be for either classification or value changes that bear directly on the preference claim.