The Port of Savannah has detained two shipments over possible forced labor involvement since March, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said during a Dec. 15 speech in Savannah (here). "The first shipment was Stevia (ultimately released) and second was a shipment of Beedies (Indian cigarettes) that was excluded due to violations of Food and Drug Administration labeling requirements," according to his prepared remarks. Kerlikowske also reviewed various CBP accomplishments during the past year, including the use of ACE and the Centers of Excellence and Expertise.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The Fish and Wildlife Service will again issue Designated Port Exception Permits (DPEP) to authorize entries at ports with no FWS staff present, it said in a bulletin issued Dec. 13 (here). The agency had done away with the permits in October (see 1610240012), but “due to feedback received from the trade, the Service has rescinded that decision,” it said. FWS "has begun the process of consulting with CBP to determine the necessary programming changes to ACE needed to implement the DPEP process,” it said. Changes may not be complete until February, it said. Until ACE is updated, importers will not be able to pilot in ACE with the FWS at non-staffed port locations, but they will be able to obtain clearance at non-staffed ports through eDecs, FWS said. Trade groups had asked FWS to reinstate the permits (see 1611140019 and 1612050011).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 5-9 in case they were missed.
CBP’s Jan. 14 mandatory use date for drawback, reconciliation, duty deferral and liquidation in ACE will also be the date that the ACE transition occurs for statements and Importer Security Filings (ISF), CBP said in a CSMS message (here). However, the Jan. 14 deployment does not include Manufacturer ID Add, because “this capability must be deployed at the same time as Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) Admissions (e214s).” Also, the ACE Product Code query will be removed from and no longer supported in ACE, CBP said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP will require filing in ACE beginning on Jan. 14 for drawback and duty deferral entries (here) and reconciliation entries (here), it said. As of that date, filing in the Automated Commercial System for drawback, duty deferral and reconciliation will no longer be available, it said. CBP had previously mentioned the drawback deadline, and said it is targeting mid-January for other post-release functions including reconciliation, liquidation, duty deferral, collections and statements (see 1612010041).
The National Marine Fisheries Service is setting new filing requirements at time of entry for imports of certain species of seafood the agency has deemed high-risk, in a final rule (here). Conceived as part of an administration-wide strategy to combat illegal, unreported and unregistered (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud (see 1503160016), filers will have to submit via ACE certain data elements and electronic documents with information on the fisher, the fish and how it was fished, in order to improve traceability of imports of the high-risk species. The importer of record must also maintain records on the chain of custody of their seafood imports, and obtain an International Fisheries Trade Permit for the high-risk species.