CBP is aiming to release rules for entry filings of goods valued under the $800 de minimis threshold "before the end of the calendar year," said Brenda Smith, executive assistant commissioner for the CBP Office of Trade, on Sept. 12 during the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference in Washington. CBP knows "it's a big deal" to customs brokers "whether we require the classification on all small packages," she said. It's a "thorny issue," but "I think we are close to having kind of the final conversations," so "look forward to that in the next couple months."

Representatives from the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America are scheduled to meet with the FCC this week about their concerns about the agency's elimination of Form 740 filing requirements for imported RF devices (see 1707130032). NCBFAA is pleased the requirements went away, but worries about what's seen as new liabilities for customs brokers included in the order, said Alan Klestadt, a lawyer with Grunfeld Desiderio, who represents the NCBFAA. “The new regulations talk about customs brokers being responsible to validate FCC compliance,” Klestadt said during an NCBFAA conference Monday. “There isn't a person in this room who's qualified to do that, and I say that without any disrespect. There's just no way.” Naming customs brokers as “one of the parties with responsibility to validate” is a “huge additional burden,” he said.

Representatives from the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America are scheduled to meet with the FCC this week about their concerns about the agency's elimination of Form 740 filing requirements for imported RF devices (see 1707130032). NCBFAA is pleased the requirements went away, but worries about what's seen as new liabilities for customs brokers included in the order, said Alan Klestadt, a lawyer with Grunfeld Desiderio, who represents the NCBFAA. “The new regulations talk about customs brokers being responsible to validate FCC compliance,” Klestadt said during an NCBFAA conference Monday. “There isn't a person in this room who's qualified to do that, and I say that without any disrespect. There's just no way.” Naming customs brokers as “one of the parties with responsibility to validate” is a “huge additional burden,” he said.

CBP’s Office of Field Operations has tentatively come up with some “parameters” for how it will handle Section 321 clearances going forward, said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo conveyance security and controls, at a National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference on Sept. 11. The agency has agreed on a two-track solution, allowing continued clearance in the Automated Manifest System while providing new capabilities for Section 321 in the Automated Broker Interface, he said. ABI filing will include a 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule number as a data element, with the importer of record potentially optional, he said.

Representatives from the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America are scheduled to meet with the Federal Communications Commission this week to outline some concerns related to the agency's elimination of the FCC's Form 740 filing requirements for imported radio frequency devices (see 1707130045). While the NCBFAA is pleased to see the Form 740 requirements go away, there's some worry over what's seen as new liabilities for customs brokers included in the FCC's order, said Alan Klestadt, a lawyer with Grunfeld Desiderio, who represents the NCBFAA. “The new regulations talk about customs brokers being responsible to validate FCC compliance,” Klestadt said during the NCBFAA Government Affairs Conference on Sept. 11. “There isn't a person in this room who's qualified to do that, and I say that without any disrespect. There's just no way.” Naming customs brokers as “one of the parties with responsibility to validate” marks a “huge additional burden,” he said. Klestadt said the NCBFAA is working to push back against "creep" by various agencies looking to use customs brokers to provide information about imports.

Reconciling U.S., Mexican and Canadian de minimis levels, and lowering the U.S.’s current $800 level if necessary, could prove difficult within NAFTA renegotations, Jon Kent, a lobbyist for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, said Sept. 11 during the NCBFAA Government Affairs Conference. While some believe that raised de minimis levels are good for U.S. small businesses, Kent believes that’s a “fairy tale” that rapidly increased imports. “It chews up a lot of business,” Kent said of the U.S.’s now $800 de minimis level.

CBP will push back the mandatory use date for e214 foreign-trade zones admissions in ACE to Dec. 9, Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference on Sept. 11 in Washington. The delay of the deadline, previously set for Sept. 16, comes in response to concerns from industry, McAleenan said. The agency planned to make a formal announcement on Sept. 11, he said.

Members of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) were set to lobby this week for legislation that would prevent brokers from absorbing certain financial liability when importer clients file for bankruptcy, NCBFAA Legislative Representative Jon Kent said during the group’s Sept. 11 Government Affairs Conference in Washington. Importers that file for bankruptcy sometimes retroactively try to recover payments made to customs brokers, or through them to CBP, that were made within 90 days prior to the filing, according to an NCBFAA position paper. This scenario poses an “immediate and troublesome threat” to brokers in terms of financial liability, sometimes totaling well into the “six-figure range,” according to the position paper.

CBP will postpone until Dec. 9 the mandatory use date for e214 foreign-trade zones admissions in ACE, Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference on Sept. 11 in Washington. The delay of the deadline, previously set for Sept. 16, comes in response to concerns from industry, McAleenan said. CBP will make a formal announcement on Sept. 11, he said.

Trade executives agreed during a Sept. 6 conference that better alignment of NAFTA de minimis levels could benefit commerce, but offered different opinions on the best path toward uniformity. Jon Kent, who lobbies for the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA), said during the Air Cargo Industry Summit that there should be a “reconciliation” between de minimis thresholds in the U.S., Canada and Mexico but that the U.S. $800 level might not be the optimal benchmark. He suggested the Trump administration might even consider reducing the level to help close the gap between the U.S. standard and Canada’s $15 threshold and Mexico’s $50 benchmark. “You’re importing huge quantities of goods,” he said. “I don’t know how the administration can reconcile that big jump in imports with its own predispositions.”