Cynthia Whittenburg was named executive vice president of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s National Education Institute, the NCBFAA said in an emailed news release Jan. 23. Whittenburg, formerly of CBP before joining the NCBFAA institute as associate director, takes over as head of the institute from Kiko Zuniga, who led it for 12 years, the NCBFAA said.
LAREDO, Texas -- An upcoming CBP final rule requiring continuing education for customs brokers could be issued as soon as the first half of 2023, with the continuing education requirements taking effect in 2024 for reporting on the 2027 broker triennial report, said Kiko Zuniga, director of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s National Education Institute.
A recent change to how customs brokers get duty-free certificates for entries under government military contracts will not affect submission of the certificates to CBP, the agency said in a CSMS message. The decommissioning of the Defense Contract Management Agency’s duty-free entry eTool system “has no impact on the submission of duty-free certificates for CBP purposes,” CBP said. Brokers will not have access to the new Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) that replaces eTool.
The Agricultural Marketing Service on Jan. 18 released a final rule requiring submission in ACE of National Organic Program organic certificates for all organic products entering the U.S. as part of the entry process. The agency’s sprawling final rule also sets requirements for organic certifiers, recognition of foreign organic certifications, labeling requirements and the calculation of organic content of multi-ingredient products, among other things.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control Dec. 30 fined a multinational Danish-based refrigeration manufacturer more than $4.3 million for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, Syria and Sudan. Danfoss, which also sells air conditioners and other cooling and heating products, illegally directed customers in all three countries to make payments through a U.S. financial institution, OFAC said in an enforcement notice. The company also made illegal payments to entities in Iran and Syria.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a 180-day temporary denial order Dec. 13 against three people and two companies for illegally sending controlled exports to Russia as part of a Moscow-led sanctions evasion scheme. Along with the denial order, DOJ indicted the three individuals, along with others, on charges related to the illegal exports, including money laundering, wire fraud, bank fraud and conspiring to defraud the U.S.
“Significant changes are imminent” for brokers that deal with duty-free entries under government military contracts through the Defense Contract Management Agency, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed alert. Beginning Jan. 14, customs brokers no longer will have access to a portal in the Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment (PIEE) to download the duty-free certification required for entry filing, the NCBFAA said. Instead, they’ll access duty-free entry “via a tokenized email,” the trade group said. While the process after the email is received “appears to be user friendly,” it’s still unclear how the broker will get the email and whether it will be timely sent, the NCBFAA said.
The “add/upload employee” feature is now available in the ACE portal for customs brokers to report new and terminated employee information, CBP said in a CSMS message Jan. 10. The feature had been unavailable since the Dec. 19 effective date of CBP’s broker modernization final rule, which requires brokers to submit the information to CBP within 30 days of the hiring or termination of an employee (see 2212190056).
DHS published its fall 2022 regulatory agenda for CBP. There were no new trade-related rulemakings included, with upcoming regulations on continuing education requirements for customs brokers still listed at the final rule stage.
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