U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a notice announcing that effective immediately, requests to terminate and replace continuous bonds meeting certain conditions will be processed according to new procedures to avoid "terminate and replace" processing problems.

CBP has issued a CSMS message informing all parties of interest that the country code and country name of East Timor (TP) has been changed to Timor-Leste (TL). CBP asks the trade to note the change, as ABI will no longer accept East Timor (TP) in any ABI transmission effective October 30, 2008. Changes have already been made to Appendix B of the CATAIR. (CSMS 08-000301, dated 11/12/08, available at http://apps.cbp.gov/csms/viewmssg.asp?Recid=17327&page=&srch_argv=08-000301&srchtype=all&btype=&sortby=&sby)

CBP has issued a CSMS message detailing certain changes made to its recently revised Importer Security Filing (10+2) draft transaction sets. (This message was issued after the drafts were revised, but before some of the drafts were given a new revision date (which could indicate additional changes.))

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted revised ACE ABI CATAIR¹ chapters and reference documents to its Web site.

The Bureau of Industry and Security has posted the following updated schedule for its export control and compliance training outreach efforts:

CBP has posted a memorandum announcing that the first opening of the recently increased global refined sugar tariff rate quota that is being reallocated from Mexico oversubscribed at opening. The pro rata percentage is 82.24822% or 0.8224822.

CBP has posted an updated version of its "ACE on the Road" event schedule, which includes the following event:

CBP has posted a memorandum regarding the re-allocation of Mexico's portion of the recently increased fiscal year 2008 tariff rate quota for refined sugar to the global refined sugar TRQ. The re-allocation will be administered on a first-come, first-served basis, in five separate openings, beginning with an allocation of 28,278,000 kg. The first opening was on October 30, 2008. The remaining allocations will consist of 10,000,000 kg each, which CBP will announce in subsequent notices. (See ITT's Online Archives or 10/31/08 news, 08103110, for most recent BP summary on the re-allocation.) (QBT-08-536, dated 10/30/08, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/trade_programs/textiles_and_quotas/qbts/qbt2008/qbt_08_536.ctt/qbt_08_536.pdf)

During the keynote address at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's 2008 Trade Symposium, CBP Commissioner Basham discussed a variety of trade issues, highlights of which include:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its "ACE Workplan Schedule," which lists the changes and/or fixes to the Automated Commercial Environment (and other systems it interfaces with) scheduled for deployment from September 6 through November 2008.