CBP's proposed changes to customs broker license exams (see 1609130032) include several problems, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments to CBP (here). The proposed changes would allow for electronic testing, increase the fees and adjust the allowed testing dates. Each of those provisions raises some issues, the NCBFAA said.

MIAMI -- CBP and the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) are ramping up efforts to improve the customs ruling process so importers can get quicker responses from CBP headquarters, said Brenda Smith, CBP executive assistant commissioner for trade, and Lenny Feldman of Sandler Travis, who co-chairs COAC’s trade modernization subcommittee. The COAC will announce a “public-private partnership” at its Nov. 17 meeting in Washington to build on its existing efforts to modernize the rulings process, Feldman said, speaking at the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 15.

MIAMI -- Any increased focus on business priorities under the upcoming Trump administration won’t be anything new and different for CBP, said Brenda Smith, CBP’s executive assistant commissioner for trade, at the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 15. The “significant change” in administrations coming this January will mean CBP will have a “new set of folks to work with” and a “new set of policy goals,” after having gotten used to the people and policy goals of the Obama administration, Smith said. Nonetheless, the new administration will likely recognize the importance of trade, given that trade was “one of the critical issues” of Trump’s campaign, she said. While Trump may bring a different perspective on the relationship between government and business, CBP is comfortable taking advice from the private sector on how government needs to interact with business to work toward a more competitive economy, Smith said.

MIAMI – CBP’s ACE priorities will include implementation of existing legislation and urgent fixes to the truck environment after it completes ACE “core” in January and moves into a more difficult “operations and maintenance” funding environment, said Josephine Baiamante of CBP’s ACE Business Office at the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 14. The agency will also look at ways to work with other Department of Homeland Security agencies through ACE, before turning to a list of other capabilities the trade community has requested.

CBP will pay $72,222.32 as part of a settlement with a furniture importer that was mistakenly used as the importer of record and later assessed antidumping duties on an entry of wooden bedroom furniture from China, according to a settlement agreement filing with the Court of International Trade. The importer, Lifestyle Enterprise, challenged CBP in the CIT over a denied protest (see 1501290028) that left the company liable for antidumping duties (see 1502190058). CBP and Lifestyle agreed to the settlement "without reliquidating the entry subject to this action," according to the court filing. Lifestyle also agreed to seek a voluntary motion to dismiss with prejudice, abandon all other claims and cover its own litigation costs. Lifestyle originally sued for $144,444.64, the amount of the bill it received for the entry on which it was mistakenly listed as importer of record. A related lawsuit against the customs broker, which did not have a power of attorney from Lifestyle, was dismissed last year due to jurisdictional issues (see 1509210065). The Justice Department, Lifestyle and CBP didn't comment.

CBP's regulatory changes for online liquidation notifications should require that the agency post the liquidation information as it happens, rather than "within a reasonable period" as proposed, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments to CBP (here). CBP proposed last month to allow notices of liquidations and liquidation suspensions and extensions to be posted on CBP's website rather than at the ports (see 1610130018). "In the electronic environment, CBP has the ability to post these liquidations immediately when they occur," the NCBFAA said. "There is no longer a basis for delayed notification and the regulation should be revised to provide that notice of liquidation for these entries will be posted on the date of liquidation. There is no basis to distinguish these entries from entries which are manually liquidated."

MIAMI -- The Food and Drug Administration hopes to publish its final rule on ACE filing requirements by the end of November, said John Verbeten of FDA’s Division of Import Operations at the Florida Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 14. The final rule, which follows a controversial proposal issued in June (see 1606300020), will be followed “sooner rather than later” by changes to FDA’s ACE Supplemental Guide to implement the new regulatory provisions, he said.

MIAMI -- Prospects for U.S. implementation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are “unclear” following the election of Donald Trump as the next president, said Sushan Demirjian, assistant deputy trade representative for market access and industrial competitiveness at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, at the Florida Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 14. Despite much “speculation,” nobody can say for sure what will happen to the agreement, said Demirjian, who helped negotiate the deal. It now seems like implementation legislation will not be taken up before Trump takes office, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., indicating Congress won’t consider it during the lame-duck session (see 1611100009). Still to be determined in the transition of presidential administrations, however, are the heads of key economic agencies and the position of congressional leadership, she said. Until that becomes clear, “it’s really difficult to predict anything,” Demirjian said. One early indication of TPP’s prospects will be the USTR’s annual trade report and trade policy agenda, coming in March, which will indicate what the new administration is looking to do in the short term, she said.

MIAMI -- The Federal Maritime Commission will continue to monitor the effects of the recently created OCEAN Alliance, and still has the authority to block the alliance should it decide the new alliance has too much power over the shipping market, FMC Commissioner Daniel Maffei said at the Florida Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 14. Though sometimes interpreted as affirmatively approving alliances, FMC actually decides only whether to block an alliance, he said. That requires FMC to demonstrate in court that an alliance has an excess of market power, but FMC retains the ability to bring such a case at any time, Maffei said.

PROVIDENCE -- The addition of more Partner Government Agencies (PGAs) to ACE in coming months is likely to drive a difficult expansion in the data collected by the government, said Amy Magnus, director of customs affairs and compliance at A.N. Deringer, while speaking at the Northeast Cargo Symposium on Nov. 10. Despite significant progress in ACE in 2016, the new PGAs are bound to be a source of anxiety as 2017 approaches, she said. The "most chilling" agencies to be added are Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service "Core" and the Fish and Wildlife Service, she said.