A customs broker will pay $240,000 in damages, and a freight forwarder a still undetermined amount, after the New Jersey U.S. District Court on July 19 held both liable for trademark infringement related to shipments of counterfeit Nike sneakers for which they arranged entry and transportation. The court found the arrangement of transportation and creation of documents related to the shipments constituted the “use in commerce” of the trademarks under the Lanham Act, rejecting the forwarder’s argument that it had no physical control or knowledge of the contents of the shipments.
The Section 301 tariffs on goods from China do not apply to covered imports that are part of a set if that set is classified under a subheading that is not included in the Section 301 list, CBP told the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. "If the product that imparts the essential character to the set (i.e., the [Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S.] under which the entire set is classified) is covered by the Section 301 remedy, then the entire set will be subject to the additional 25% duties," CBP told the NCBFAA. "If the HTSUS under which the entire set is classified is not covered by the Section 301 remedies, but the set contains a component that is classified in a subheading covered by the 301 list, the 301 duties will not be assessed on the individual component at this time."
Candace Sider, vice president of government and regulatory affairs North America at Livingston International, was appointed chair of the International Federation of Customs Brokers Associations, the IFCBA said in a news release. Sider represents the Canadian Society of Customs Brokers on the IFCBA board. Her term is 2018-2020. Geoff Powell, the former president of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, represents the U.S., the IFCBA said.
The Food and Drug Administration posted its updated list of filer evaluation outcomes for July 2018. The frequency of filer evaluations depends on the number of lines filed by the company. An outcome of "paperless" means FDA has determined that electronic filing is appropriate, while "corrective action plan" means FDA has found an elevated error rate and has directed the filer to fix the issue, and "dual-mode filer" means the company has failed to implement corrective action plans and has been returned to dual-mode (paper and electronic) filing. The following filer evaluation outcomes were updated in FDA's July 2018 list:
The Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach and the Base Metals Center of Excellence and Expertise will hold a seminar on "Steel Identification, Classification and Trade Law" on Aug. 7 and 8, CBP said in a July 10 notice. The seminar, which will include presentations from technical, commercial and legal experts from the industry, is meant to "increase the knowledge level" for government officials and customs brokers "regarding steel importations," it said. This seminar "has been significantly modified, revised and restructured from previous seminars," to include "new material on fraud, circumvention and evasion, plus expanded information on current issues," it said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 2-6 in case they were missed.
The government of Canada recently issued the following trade-related notices as of July 6 (some may also be given separate headlines):
CBP poked several holes in a proposed sales plan for wine stored within a foreign-trade zone in a June 15 ruling (HQ H277473). DQ Enterprises asked CBP to weigh in on a wine sales operation that would make use of several different regulations to reduce or avoid customs duties. The agency responded with concerns for the bulk of the proposed plans, but noted other agencies would need to be consulted, too.
The Food and Drug Administration will soon launch a new process for filer reviews, following the completion in April of a two-month pilot involving nine customs brokers, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed update. The new process will replace strict quantitative criteria, whereby a filer with an error rate of over 10 percent failed a review, with a more subjective review that accounts for the magnitude of the error. Several clerical errors won’t necessarily result in a failure, but a single substantive error may cause an “official action” status, the NCBFAA said.
The Food and Drug Administration will soon launch a new process for filer reviews, following the completion in April of a two-month pilot involving nine customs brokers, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in an emailed update. The new process will replace strict quantitative criteria, whereby a filer with an error rate of over 10 percent failed a review, with a more subjective review that accounts for the magnitude of the error. Several clerical errors won’t necessarily result in a failure, but a single substantive error may cause an “official action” status, the NCBFAA said.