U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted updated information to its Web site regarding its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Exchange Conference for importers and brokers on August 15-16, 2006 and for truck carriers on August 16-17, 2006, in Chicago, IL.
On July 25, 2006, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner W. Ralph Basham testified at the House Ways and Means Committee Trade Subcommittee's hearing on Customs budget authorizations and other Customs issues. Also testifying at the hearing were representatives from the following organizations:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a revised version of its informed compliance publication (ICP) entitled, What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: Raw Cotton: Tariff Classification and Import Quotas.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a press release announcing that 30 ports are now accepting the electronic CBP Form 214 (e214, Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) Admission and/or Status Designation) in lieu of a paper copy.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a revised version of its informed compliance publication (ICP) entitled, What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) for Textiles and Textile Articles.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has recently posted to its Web site reports on five Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Release 5 workshops (or meetings) that were held in late 2005 or early 2006.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a new informed compliance publication (ICP) entitled, What Every Member of the Trade Community Should Know About: Beauty and Skin Care Products of Heading 3304.
Competition is rising among online brokers, Keynote said. About one online brokerage customer in 7 looking for a new broker is unhappy with existing service and over a quarter (27%) want clear information on fees and commissions. Top side in customer satisfaction and customer acquisition: Fidelity. E*Trade ranked No. 1 for site reliability and responsiveness.
On July 13, 2006, the leadership of the Senate Finance Committee introduced the Customs and Trade Facilitation Reauthorization Act (S. 3658). According to a Senate Finance Committee press release and sources, S. 3658 would authorize, and provide instructions for, adding personnel to all U.S. ports; restoring resources for trade facilitation and enforcement at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP); requiring CBP to plan for the swift resumption of trade in the event of a transportation disruption that could harm the U.S. economy; requiring, within one year, an assessment of nonintrusive container scanning in foreign ports; streamlining and automating claim and collection of customs duty drawback; etc. (Senate Finance Committee press release, dated 07/14/06, available at http://finance.senate.gov/press/Gpress/2005/prg071406a.pdf.)
The FCC Enforcement Bureau asked for additional information from a handful of wireline and wireless carriers, as it deepens its investigation of whether the carriers properly protected customer proprietary network information (CPNI), sources said Wed. A regulatory lawyer said the bureau sent follow-up requests for information to 5 wireline and 5 wireless carriers. The FCC has yet to cite a carrier for substantial violations of its CPNI rules since it began its probe of how “pretexters” get and sell phone records on the Internet.