U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP's) Office of Information and Technology has posted a notice to its Web site containing a list, as of January 4, 2005, of companies/persons offering data processing services to the trade community for the Automated Broker Interface (ABI).
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a 2004 year end review fact sheet which highlights accomplishments and statistics for various DHS agencies including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Transportation and Security Administration (TSA), etc. (DHS fact sheet, available at )
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has recently posted to its Web site an amended version of an earlier memorandum which, effective October 1, 2004, revised CBP's policy pertaining to the identification of the ultimate consignee at time of entry or release.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the port of Blaine, WA has issued a Port (Trade) Information Notice notifying the trade community of the shutdown of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Release 4 Truck Manifest pilot.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted separate notices to its Web site which list the calendar year 2005 Tariff Preference Levels (TPLs) for certain textiles and apparel from Canada and Mexico. These 2005 TPLs are set at the same levels as the 2004 TPL levels (with the exception of one Mexico TPL which expired, see below).
According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) notice and CBP sources, the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) filing of entries for goods eligible for U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement (UAFTA) duty benefits is not available at this time due to ongoing system programming for the UAFTA.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message stating that on July 29, 2003, it issued an administrative message regarding the importance of ensuring the integrity of the data related to importing parties, specifically, the data in the importer of record database (SRE file). (See ITT's Online Archives or 07/31/03 news, 03073110, for BP summary of July 2003 adm message 03-1894.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site the December 2004 issue of its U.S. Customs and Border Protection Modernization newsletter which focuses on the transition of the port of Blaine, WA to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message informing all filers that any data input into the Importer of Record database (SRE file), on or after December 20, 2004, that is identified as being input as a knowingly invalid record will result in a broker penalty under 19 USC 1641(d) for egregious violation. CBP states that additionally, upon discovery of such false records, CBP personnel will immediately void the identified records to impede any future transactions.
The State Department has issued a public notice announcing various upcoming meetings of the International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) to prepare for the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) Meeting and ITU-T Study Groups 3, 4, and 17 meetings. According to the notice, ITAC will meet with an agenda for preparations for an upcoming ITU-T TSAG meeting on: January 19, February 2, February 16 (teleconference) and March 2, 2005.