Monday Morning eBriefing

Here is a summary of the latest legislative and regulatory transport, logistics and trade sector updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Transportation Counsel firm Venable:

Here is a summary of the latest customs and cross-border trade regulatory updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Customs Counsel firm Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg:

The NCBFAA Educational Institute (NEI) is proud to announce that Travis Lintelman, an export compliance specialist with UPS, has been awarded this year’s NEI CES Scholarship.

Our Congressional Members may be overwhelmed by the demands of the day, but that doesn’t mean NCBFAA members should delay personally contacting these lawmakers to let them know just how important the Customs Business Fairness Act (CBFA) (H.R. 4186) is to our industry and the urgency to make this legislation permanent in the U.S. Bankruptcy Law.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told members of the trade during an ACE biweekly call on March 17 that the agency is putting a hold on all goods covered by the recently announced U.S. sanctions against Russia.

NCBFAA expresses its sincerest condolences to the family and colleagues of Edward S. Kaplan, president of Revere, Massachusetts-based OCEANAIR, Inc., who passed away March 14. He was 75.

Cyber incidents are on the rise, and they test the resiliency of every American business, especially those involved in international trade like customs brokers and freight forwarders.

The Biden Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on March 15 announced the launch of a major supply chain initiative, Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW), to help speed up delivery times and reduce consumer costs.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome the following members who have recently joined our association:

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) on March 14 announced that it is providing an additional 30-days for public comment on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on Demurrage and Detention Billing Requirements (Docket No. 22-04) issued last month.

We are now under two months away from NCBFAA’s 49th Annual Conference in Tucson, Arizona, on May 1-4. Register today, so you don’t miss out on the most important and informative event of the year for our industry.

Former and current NCBFAA staff and industry colleagues will remember Kenneth Bargteil, a 35-year customs brokerage industry veteran, for his unwavering drive to raise the status and professionalism of both small and large association members within the U.S. supply chain.

We need each of our members to continue reaching out to their Congressional Members on Capitol Hill to let them know just how important Customs Business Fairness Act (CBFA) (H.R. 4186) is to our industry.

The NCBFAA Export Compliance Subcommittee has previously reported that all the HTS and Schedule B codes in 15 CFR 746 Supplement #4 now require licenses. We have since received further clarification from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) which advises that only the products covered by the product descriptions on the chart need licenses. The agency’s intention was not to include all products that could fall into the HTS or Schedule B categories. BIS advises that this clarification will be included in forthcoming FAQs

Here is a summary of the latest legislative and regulatory transport, logistics and trade sector updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Transportation Counsel firm Venable:

With the recent announcement that the U.S. will revoke Russia’s Most Favored Nation Duty Status, NCBFAA urges its members to monitor Customs and Border Protection’s CSMS and other trade-facing announcements as to when goods originating from Russia for U.S. consumption will be subject to exponentially higher column two duty rates. While such tariff rate changes typically track the date of entry for consumption or withdrawal from warehouse, it is possible that they may track the date of export from Russia, in this latter case where goods already exported, but not yet entered, may not carry the higher duty rates.

The NCBFAA Transportation Committee’s Logistics Subcommittee is regularly collecting data on the nation’s rail delays and port congestion that are impacting the supply chain and your business operations.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have continued to postpone their “Container Dwell Fee,” and said they will reconsider its possible imposition on March 18.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in lockstep with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), FBI, and the National Security Agency (NSA), is urging U.S. infrastructure operators and air transport providers to protect themselves against the possible increase in cyberattacks.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is launching the National Drug Entry Review Pilot, starting March 13, to conduct entry reviews of drug shipments on a national basis, rather than the current port-by-port entry review approach. Entry review staff for drug entries will operate on a 24/7 basis, covering all 336 ports of entry. The pilot will continue for 90 days.