CBP posted its draft agenda and numerous other documents for the upcoming Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) meeting on Aug. 15 in Seattle. The materials include presentations, draft recommendations, and other documents on the role of the Broker, Simplified Entry, Bonds, Residue, the Global Supply Chain, and other topics.
CBP said the 2012 Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Conference originally scheduled for Sept 24-26 will be postponed and the conference won't be held in September "due to scheduling and logistics challenges." CBP said it's working to "revise the planning in order to bring you the conference material at a later date." CBP said Aug. 7 it was postponing the East Coast Trade Symposium.
Aug. 7 Bureau of Industry And Security's Materials Processing Equipment Technical Advisory Committee meeting, 9 a.m., Room 3884, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. -- Yvette Springer at Yvette.Springer@bis.doc.gov.
The European Union issued the following trade-related releases Aug. 1-2 (notices of most significance will be given separate headlines):
CBP said the 2012 Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) Conference is scheduled for Sept 24-26, in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area. A nominal registration fee will be charged and further information will be available soon on this website, said CBP. Due to the popularity of the C-TPAT Conference, there will be a limit of two representatives from the same company enforced in order to enable a wide variety of companies to participate. Registration will open on August 7, 2012. The 2012 East Coast Trade Symposium is scheduled for Sept. 27-28.
CBP announced the location and agenda for next meeting of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC), Aug. 15 at 1 p.m. (PDT) in Seattle. Online registration for webcast and in-person participation is available through Aug.12, said a notice in the Federal Register July 30.
The Food and Drug Administration will not allow foreign manufacturers outside of Mexico and Canada to participate in its Secure Supply Chain pilot program, ITT has learned. Although the FDA’s July 20 Federal Register notice did not explicitly say that only U.S., Canadian and Mexican manufacturers could take part, Sara Clark-Lynn of the FDA Office of Public Affairs confirmed that only C-TPAT Tier II and III members are eligible for the pilot program, and acknowledged that “only foreign manufacturers located in Canada and Mexico are eligible to become C-TPAT members.”
The House approved HR-4251, the Securing Maritime Activities through Risk-based Targeting (SMART) for Port Security Act , June 28 under suspension of the rules. The legislation is meant to authorize, enhance, and reform port security programs through increased efficiency and risk-based coordination within the Department of Homeland Security. Text of the bill, which still needs Senate approval, is here.
CBP is looking into establishing a pilot program that would waive the requirement to maintain a place of business within the district where customs business is being conducted, allowing for more virtual transactions, said CBP officials June 28. The officials spoke during a CBP Webinar on "Modernizing broker permitting requirements," the third of several Webinars on changes to broker regulation.
CBP set a target of September for getting the next two Centers for Excellence and Expertise (CEEs) operational, said Tom Overacker, project manager of the CEEs at CBP, speaking at the Import Compliance and Enforcement Conference in Washington June 21. Overacker said CBP will seek volunteers for the CEEs “soon” in a Federal Register notice.