FDA’s proposed rule on traceability requirements for high-risk foods needs some reworking to “reflect the unique characteristics of the import supply chain,” the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in Feb. 22 comments to the agency. As proposed, the requirements do not account for complex import supply chains, and changes are also necessary to account for the roles of parties within that supply chain to better reflect the import process, the NCBFAA said.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said that since the International Trade Commission ruled no safeguards are necessary for blueberries, some importers think they no longer have to pay the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service blueberry fee, which funds research and promotion of U.S. blueberries. “The ITC decision not to restrict or penalize blueberry imports does not in any way change the requirement for importers to pay the blueberry fee to the USDA,” the group said in its latest members' newsletter.

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely on March 17, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by March 16.

CEDIA Expo producer Emerald Holding reported a 73% year-on-year plunge in Q4 revenue, to $12.2 million, and a 65% falloff, to $127.4 million, for pandemic-plagued 2020. Declines were partially offset by claim payments received under the company’s event cancellation insurance policy, said the company Thursday.

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely on March 17, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by March 16.

CBP is allowing for a remote proctored exam option for the April 21 customs broker exam, the agency said Feb. 17. Exam registration will open Feb. 22 and close March 22. “Remote proctoring means a person (the proctor) will observe the examinee via the computer camera throughout the exam, from sign-in through completion,” it said. CBP will require that a system test be passed and that the private location meet other requirements to qualify for the remote test option, it said.

For weeks, dozens of container ships have dotted the waters of California's San Pedro Bay, waiting to unload at a port experiencing its highest level of congestion in years. With no space to drop their cargo, the ships sit in limbo, further slowing imports and exports and clogging a global trading system that some shippers view as broken.

FDA recently launched the second phase of its Artificial Intelligence Imported Seafood Pilot program, and will over the next six months apply machine learning technologies in the field as part of its screening processes for seafood imports, the agency said in a constituent update Feb. 8. FDA says it does not anticipate disruptions to importers from the pilot, which began Feb. 1 and is set to run through July 31.

For weeks, dozens of container ships have dotted the waters of California's San Pedro Bay, waiting to unload at a port experiencing its highest level of congestion in years. With no space to drop their cargo, the ships sit in limbo, further slowing imports and exports and clogging a global trading system that some shippers view as broken.

CBP will focus on getting through a backlog of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism revalidations that it had been originally scheduled to perform in 2020 as it lays out its work plan for validations in 2021, said Manual Garza, CTPAT director at CBP’s Office of Field Operations, on a call with members of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America on Feb. 3.