U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a memorandum titled: "US-Oman Free Trade Agreement Implementation Instructions," that provides instructions for the filing and acceptance of claims for preferential treatment of goods under the U.S.- Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA, or UOFTA).
On December 31, 2008, President Bush issued Proclamation 8332 to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA) effective for qualifying goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption on or after January 1, 2009.
BP is correcting its January 9, 2009 ITT to state that U.S. Customs Border and Protection has issued a notice announcing that the following Customs broker licenses are cancelled without prejudice (BP previously incorrectly stated that such licenses were cancelled with prejudice):
The following are the trade-related bills and resolutions that were introduced in the House or Senate during January 8-9, 2009:
The Transportation Security Administration has issued a press release announcing the completion of over 1 million fingerprint-based background checks on truck drivers required to carry a Hazardous Material Endorsement (HME) on a commercial driver's license. Since starting operations almost four years ago, the HME Threat Assessment Program has completed a review of 1,015,660 applications and approved more than 1 million. (TSA Press Release 12/29/08, available at http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2008/1229.shtm)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted penalty mitigation guidelines for violations of the mandatory Automated Export System (AES) filing requirements and other Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR, 15 CFR Part 30). The guidelines are effective on February 1, 2009 for violations occurring on or after February 1, 2009.
In a revised frequently-asked-questions document, the Consumer Product Safety Commission has added an additional method to meet the requirement in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA1) that certificates of conformity "accompany" each product or shipment of products required to have such certificates.2
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has previously issued a general notice announcing that the 2009 annual user fee of $138 assessed for each customs broker permit and national permit held by an individual, partnership, association, or corporation is due by January 23, 2009.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document regarding the submission of the licensed customs broker triennial status report and fee.
CBP has issued a notice on the 2009 Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Supply Chain Security Seminar that will be held on April 1-3, 2009 in New Orleans, LA. The seminar is open to all C-TPAT certified partners. The seminar will be presented in two sessions to accommodate additional registrants. Registration will begin on Monday, January 5, 2009 at 12 noon EST through the C-TPAT Members page. (CBP notice, dated 12/22/08, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/trade/cargo_security/ctpat/supply_chain_seminar.xml.)