CBP's Office of Information and Technology has posted an updated list of companies/persons offering data processing services to the trade community for the Automated Broker Interface. (List, dated 11/09/09, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/automated/automated_systems/abi/getting_started/vendor.ctt/vendor.doc)
Most comments that the Federal Trade Commission has received before its first privacy roundtable have urged the commission to enact more-thorough privacy principles and restrict the use of consumers’ information. A few dissenters, however, argue that privacy advocates overemphasize the value of privacy to the detriment of the Internet and innovation.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently posted the October 2009 customs broker license exam and answer key. According to CBP sources, the pass rate for the October exam was 6.9%.
Systemax’s CompUSA will enter the Houston market soon with its first store as it seeks to expand the chain, a Systemax spokesman confirmed late Wednesday. The move into Houston is a major shift for CompUSA, which has focused on opening stores in existing markets in Florida - it recently added West Kendall and Pembroke Pines locations - and Chicago, where it has three outlets. Houston was once home to several CompUSA stores.
The ITDS Board has submitted its annual report on the International Trade Data System to Congress, as required by the 2006 SAFE Port Act.1 The report includes updates on the status of ITDS implementation and the status of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, among other issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message stating that the ACE contact list has been edited to reflect the new email address for the CBP Technology Service Desk. The new email address is CBP.TECHNOLOGY.SERVICE.DESK@CBP.DHS.GOV.(CSMS 09-000345, dated 11/05/09, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17738&page=&srch_argv=09-000345&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby)
At the November 4, 2009 COAC meeting, a Treasury official announced that the International Trade Data System annual report to Congress has been issued. According to Treasury, the report contains recommendations that could help mitigate the effect of ACE delays on ITDS program. For example, the report recommends that CBP could begin to collect ITDS information for other agencies through the Automated Broker Interface, and then make the data available through the ACE data warehouse. See future issues of ITT for additional details of COAC meeting and ITDS report. (Report, dated September 2009, available at http://www.itds.gov/xp/itds/whats_new/)
CBP has issued a CSMS message stating that the CBP Technology Service Desk email address has been changed to CBP.TECHNOLOGY.SERVICE.DESK@CBP.DHS.GOV. Effective November 2, 2009, all of ACE-related inquiries should be sent to the new email address for support. (CSMS 09-000339, dated 10/30/09, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17732&page=&srch_argv=09-000339&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby)
At the American Conference Institute's recent conference on Import Compliance and Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials gave a presentation entitled "Single Issue Audits and Focused Assessments: How Audit Programs are Evolving and What You Need to Know to Prepare."
On October 22, 2009, a House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee1 held a hearing entitled "Cargo Security at Land Ports of Entry: Are We Meeting the Challenge?"