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.
The FCC Thurs. cited data broker LocateCell.com for “willfully or repeatedly” violating Commission rules by refusing to hand over information the FCC sought through subpoena. The agency issued a $97,500 notice of apparent liability against the company, the highest possible penalty under Commission rules for a nonregulated company. Enforcement Bureau officials said after the meeting that other data brokers have refused to comply with subpoenas and could be subject to similar forfeitures. Enforcement Bureau Chief Chris Monteith said the FCC’s message is clear: “Disregarding a lawfully issued subpoena and therefore compromising our authority… we are not going to tolerate.”
AT&T will pay $550,000 to settle an FCC inquiry into its mishandling of the “opt-out” process by which customers can tell the company they don’t want it to share their data with affiliates or other entities. The payment settles 2 issues: (1) April, 2005 “self-reported” problems the former SBC had with opt-out mechanisms in its Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI) process. No customer information was sold, and the irregularities involved internal marketing, SBC said. (2) A $100,000 fine against the former AT&T the FCC proposed in Jan. for not providing documents certifying its compliance with CPNI rules on handling customer data. As part of an FCC review related to concerns about data brokers, AT&T provided documents on SBC’s activities but not the former AT&T’s. Under the consent decree, the now-merged company will name personnel to oversee the CPNI opt-out process and approve “in writing both the form and content of CPNI opt-out notices prior to distribution to customers.” It will create a training program and monitor customer complaints to see if CPNI opt-out rules were violated. AT&T “has commendably self-reported some of its failures in its compliance mechanisms and has agreed to adopt a compliance plan so that consumers are appropriately notified about the Commission’s privacy rules,” FCC Comr. Adelstein said. Adelstein also urged the Commission to “move ahead with our pending rulemaking on our consumer privacy rules for telephone companies.” That proceeding, adopted at the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s urging, gives the FCC “an important opportunity to find ways to tighten our rules and provide greater security for these sensitive consumer records,” he said. An AT&T spokesman said SBC’s “internal procedures” showed that opt-out notices weren’t sent to some new customers. He said the company immediately “restricted the customers’ accounts from being added to our… internal marketing lists [and] removed the affected customers from all previously generated internal marketing lists.” The customers were sent opt-out notices and the problem was reported to the FCC a week after it was discovered. As for the AT&T problem, the company said it had CPNI compliance procedures in place but couldn’t find the certificate.
The FCC said late Thurs. it will vote at its July 13 meeting on an enforcement action against data broker 1st Source Information Specialist, d/b/a LocateCell.com. Putting an enforcement item on a meeting agenda is an unusual step at the FCC. It shows how much the agency has changed the way it does business since Chmn. Martin assumed the helm in March 2005, sources said Fri. The FCC under first Enforcement Bureau chief David Solomon refused to put enforcement actions on the agenda, sources said. Solomon headed the bureau from its opening in 1999 until May 2005.
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: Peanuts and their Classification under the HTSUS.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site Amendment 8, dated June 2006, to the Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) document.