On May 20, 2008, the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade held a hearing on "Export Compliance: Ensuring Safety, Increasing Efficiency."
On May 15, 2008, the Los Angeles Harbor Commission approved the Clean Truck Program (CTP) Drayage Services Concession Agreement, which paves the way for the Port of Los Angeles to begin the transition to a Licensed Motor Carrier-based truck concession program beginning October 1, 2008.
The following Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and Court of International Trade cases on international trade issues were dated/decided during May 7 - 20, 2008:
At the April 2008 National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's Annual Conference, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official spoke about the Action Plan for Import Safety1 and CBP's initiatives for improving import safety.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an Excel spreadsheet listing the reject reasons for April 2008 for CBP Form 5106 Importer ID input records, CBP Form 301 Customs bonds, bond applications, bond riders, bond terminations, etc.
The Census Bureau reports that the customs broker and freight forwarder association of Atlanta is sponsoring an Automated Export System Compliance Seminar and Workshop in Atlanta, GA on June 10 & 11, 2008. The U.S. Census Bureau and port officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection will participate as presenters. (Census notice available at http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/aes/meetingsandpresentations/exportcompliance-atlanta-20080610.html )
At the April 2008 National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's Annual Conference, U.S. government officials discussed the Automated Export System (AES) and other export related issues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing that, effective immediately, the ACE Modernization information section of CBP's Web site can no longer be accessed using Quicklinks. An attachment to CBP's CSMS message includes instructions for accessing the ACE Modernization information section. (CSMS 08-000087, dated 05/19/08, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17095&page=&srch_argv=08-000087&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby.)
At the April 2008 National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's Annual Conference, an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) official discussed a variety of export-related issues. Highlights of her remarks include the following points:
The House and Senate have both passed the conference version of H.R. 2419, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill), by greater than two-thirds majorities.