CBP is hoping to begin its risk-based bonding program for new importers of merchandise subject to antidumping and countervailing duties in March 2020, but there still remain some thorny issues that need to be ironed out. The agency is still working on ACE enhancements, including identifiers and queries for new importers, said Lisa Gelsomino, of Avalon Risk Management, at the Dec. 4 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC).
CBP opened the first Eagle Pass, Texas, Port of Entry Free And Secure Trade lane at the Camino Real International Bridge, CBP said in a news release. “The FAST lane will enable U.S. Customs and Border Protection to offer expedited clearance to those carriers and importers that have made a commitment to increase the security of their supply chain and who have enrolled in the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and utilize FAST approved commercial drivers to import qualifying goods," CBP said. "The creation of a designated FAST lane is the result of a cooperative effort among many federal, state, and provincial government entities on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border and is expected to ensure the security of imported merchandise while enhancing the economic prosperity of both countries."
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published its fall 2019 regulatory agenda for CBP. The only new trade-related rulemaking included is a proposed requirement for the U.S. Postal Service to transmit advance electronic information to CBP for international mail shipments. That rule is a result of the STOP Act, or Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, signed by President Donald Trump in October 2018 (see 1810240052). CBP is targeting December to issue an interim final rule, it said.
CBP plans to publish its new Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) minimum security criteria in the Federal Register sometime after Jan. 1, said Mark Mahoney, a CBP supervisory supply chain specialist, at the Automotive Industry Action Group Customs Town Hall on Nov. 7. CBP programmers are currently at work making the necessary updates to the CTPAT portal, but program participants won’t have to update their security profiles immediately after the new security criteria are in effect, Mahoney said. Participants will have until their next annual review to update their profiles, though they still will need to comply with the new minimum security criteria if they have a validation prior to that, he said. CBP has said that it will take a phased approach to enforcement of the new criteria (see 1810040027).
The proposed minimum information requirements for broker verification of importer clients includes some onerous provisions that could reduce the use of customs brokers, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments to CBP on the proposal (see 1908130031). The proposal seems to let self-filers avoid the verification requirements, which seems likely to promote the use of self-filing by the parties that are being targeted by CBP, the group said. Comments on the proposal are due Oct. 15.
CBP may soon implement increased bonding requirements for new importers that are bringing in merchandise subject to antidumping and countervailing duties, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) Intelligent Enforcement Subcommittee said in a report. CBP hopes to issue a Federal Register notice in August setting new single transaction bond requirements as early as Sept. 21 or Sept. 28, the report said. But the COAC will recommend the new requirements be delayed until bonding formulas can be worked out, the report said.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet Aug. 21, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT, in Buffalo, New York, CBP said in a notice.
CHICAGO -- The discussion around including forced labor compliance within Trusted Trader requirements is ongoing after the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee issued recommendations on the subject, said Manuel Garza, director of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. "Some of them we agreed with, some of them we didn't agree with," he said. "There's probably going to be a couple of new recommendations that COAC is going to provide back to CBP for the next COAC meeting." Garza spoke July 24 at the CBP Trade Symposium.
Top Republicans on the House Homeland Security Committee and Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, along with Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, have introduced a reauthorization bill for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. The bill includes changes that would improve CBP program management and information sharing and collaboration with industry.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company ship that was found to be carrying a record 20 tons of cocaine was seized by CBP on July 4, the agency said in a July 8 news release. Last month, CBP found and seized over a billion dollars worth of cocaine aboard the MSC Gayane, which put MSC's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism status into question (see 1906240037).