CBP has posted a summary of changes to the Automated Export System (AES) Trade Interface Requirements (AESTIR) on its Web site, indicating that Version 1.0 was changed on March 9, 2006 as follows:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued its implementation plan for the new minimum-security criteria for highway carrier participants in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT).
According to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) press release, the port of Salalah, Oman became the 43rd Container Security Initiative (CSI) port to target and pre-screen maritime cargo containers destined for U.S. ports on March 7, 2006.
Shippers' NewsWire reports that the Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has said that she plans to push the Green Lane Maritime Cargo Security Act, which would provide $835 million in each of the next five years to expand the Container Security Initiative (CSI) and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), provide extra funds for port security grants, create a cargo security policy office in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and implement other measures to protect ports and cargo from terrorists. According to the article, the Chairman plans to have the Committee vote on the bill in April 2006. (SNW dated 03/07/06, www.americanshipper.com )
CBP has posted a presentation that provides information on the Periodic Monthly Statement (PMS), a feature of its Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). According to CBP, this presentation was developed for members of the trade community to utilize in their presentations to other members of the trade community as part of the ACE and PMS outreach effort. The presentation discusses the benefits of PMS, which include: (1) providing additional flexibility and potentially significant cash flow advantages, (2) allowing the broker to select either a national or a port statement, (3) allowing the broker to pay on behalf of the importer on either an importer or broker statement from the importer or broker Automated Clearing House (ACH) account, etc. (CBP's ACE Periodic Monthly Statement overview, dated March 2006, available at http://www.customs.gov/linkhandler/cgov/toolbox/about/modernization/briefings_info/trade_pms_presentation.ctt/trade_pms_presentation.pdf.)
CBP has issued its weekly tariff rate quota (TRQ) commodity report as of February 21, 2006. This report includes TRQs on various products such as beef, tuna, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa powder, tobacco, certain JFTA, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, UAFTA and UCFTA TRQs, etc. This report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, CBTPA, MFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA (CFTA) tariff preference levels (TPLs) for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (CBP's weekly quota commodity report, dated 02/21/06, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an updated notice entitled, "ACE on the Road" which lists various February - April 2006 meetings, seminars, and conferences concerning a range of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) topics.
Washington Trade Daily reports that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Michael Chertoff handed over the government's responsibility for co-directing the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection and Related Functions (COAC) to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). According to the article, COAC's February 9, 2006 meeting was co-chaired by Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Deborah Spero, while previous meetings had been co-chaired by an assistant secretary of DHS. (Washington Trade Daily, dated 02/10/06, www.washingtontradedaily.com.)
On February 6, 2006, President Bush transmitted to Congress his fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget. (FY 2007 is from October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007.)
American Shipper reports that in President Bush's proposed budget for fiscal year (FY) 2007, which was sent to Congress and made public on February 6, 2006, funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be up 6% from the budget request from last year, with most of the difference earmarked for immigration enforcement and emergency preparedness. The article reports that requested funding would stay flat, compared with the budget request for last year, for border security programs such as the Container Security Initiative (CSI) and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). (AS, dated 02/07/06, www.americanshipper.com )