The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice stating that the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business (ITAC-11) will hold a meeting on October 3, 2005 in Greensboro, NC to discuss topics regarding the North Carolina Trade Policy update, small business development etc. (USTR notice, FR Pub 09/21/05, available at http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20051800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2005/pdf/05-18822.pdf
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a general notice announcing that, effective immediately, importers of record participating in the National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) Periodic Monthly Statement test are no longer required to provide a bond rider covering periodic payment of estimated duties and fees.
Circuit City has hired McKinsey & Co. to help “rethink major aspects” of its store operations and will test new services and layouts at 20 stores in the Boston and Miami areas starting in Oct.
The Journal of Commerce reports that the ports of Miami and Everglades are closed to vessel traffic as South Florida braces for Tropical Storm Rita to regain hurricane strength. The article notes that many flights have been cancelled at Miami International Airport. (JoC Online, dated 09/20/05, www.joc.com.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a revised version of its automation requirements for its voluntary test of the submission of electronic Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) admission applications, including record layouts, mandatory fields, error messages, and other programming details.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and/or the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA) are expected to soon issue notices announcing the October 1, 2005 - September 30, 2006 Tariff Preference Levels (TPLs) for the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), and the U.S.-Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act (CBTPA).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site notice that the fiscal year (FY) 2006 global refined and specialty sugar "low duty" tariff rate quota (TRQ) provided for in HTS Chapter 17, Additional U.S. Note (AUSN) 5, did not fill at opening moment on September 8, 2005. (This quota would normally have opened on October 1, 2005, but opened early due to supply shortages caused by Hurricane Katrina.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a second revised version of its trade update regarding Hurricane Katrina.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a notice announcing that the next meeting of the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection and Related Functions (COAC) will be held on October 6, 2005 in Redondo Beach, CA. (This committee was previously called the 'Treasury Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the U.S. Customs Service.")
No matter how technology improves, govt. agencies will compromise individual privacy unless they have clear data use policies, lines of authority and accountability, speakers told a Homeland Security Dept. (DHS) privacy workshop. Regarding individual data, agencies must “take a step back and bring some discipline back in,” DHS Metadata Program Mgr. Michael Daconta said. Consistent rules and standards are sorely lacking in and among agencies, and DHS especially needs “a set of privacy decision trees” to ensure the buck stops somewhere, he said.