U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message to all Northern and Southern border brokers stating that effective immediately, all ABI entry data transmissions for the truck mode of transportation should not have any data in the House bill field. (CBP Adm: 05-1186, dated 10/14/05, available at http://www.brokerpower.com/cgi-bin/adminsearch/admmsg.view.pl?article=2005/2005-1186.ADM )
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message to all ABI vendors and self-programmed importers and brokers regarding participation in the upcoming voluntary test of electronic foreign trade zone (FTZ) admission applications for merchandise reported to CBP via air, sea, and rail manifest.
The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has issued a notice to the wildlife import/export community detailing the operational status of the Port of New Orleans with respect to wildlife inspection operations.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message which announces port code changes for certain Minneapolis area ports that took effect October 1, 2005.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP's) Office of Information and Technology has posted a notice to CBP's Web site containing a list, as of October 11, 2005, of companies/persons offering data processing services to the trade community for the Automated Broker Interface (ABI).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site various materials related to presentations made at the September 26-29, 2005 meeting of the Trade Support Network (TSN).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a notice on two aspects of a CBP interim rule which, effective October 5, 2005, amended 19 CFR Parts 12, 102, 141, 144, 146 and 163 in order to update, restructure, and consolidate the regulations relating to the country of origin of textile and apparel products. (See ITT's Online Archives or 10/06/05 news, 05100605, for BP summary.)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an expanded trade update on Hurricane Rita, dated October 4, 2005, which lists the status of ports of entry in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi that were in the path of Hurricane Rita and/or that are recovering from Hurricane Katrina. In addition, CBP has also issued a trade questions-and-answers (Q&A) document in response to Hurricane Rita.
The Justice Dept. amended its antitrust complaint against the National Assn. of Realtors (NAR) Tues., charging that the group’s modified policy continues to prevent Internet-based real estate brokers from offering better services and lower costs to consumers. The lawsuit challenges NAR rules that limit competition from brokers who use Internet tools to serve their customers (WID Sept 9 p9). The new complaint says NAR’s changed rules still “obstruct competition, threaten to lock in outmoded business models and inflate prices in the industry.” Last-minute changes by NAR didn’t fix the anticompetitive effects of its policy, said Assistant Attorney Gen. Bruce McDonald. “When buying and selling a home, consumers should receive the full benefits of competition -- better services and lower costs. NAR’s modified policy continues to prevent consumers from realizing these benefits.”
According to a September 28, 2005 Textile Development Memo issued by the U.S. Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is about to unveil an interim regulation repealing the multicountry and single textile declaration requirement. According to the article, a formal Federal Register notice is imminent and will, on an interim basis, revise 19 CFR 12.130 to delete the textile declaration requirement. (USA-ITA TDM dated 09/28/05, www.usaita.com.)