Monday Morning eBriefing

The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) CTPAT Program is excited to announce that the University of Houston Study has concluded, and the report is now available for viewing. This report, titled "Assessment of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) Program," is available for download here.

The U.S. Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR) 30.26 require filing in the Automated Export System (AES) for an aircraft that is moving as a good pursuant to sale or transfer from ownership in the United States to ownership abroad and meets the definition of a shipment under 30.1 of the FTR.

The Aluminum Import Monitoring and Analysis System (AIM) enhancement was deployed on May 27 to the certification environment to collect an Aluminum License for articles of aluminum subject to safeguard measures.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in a June 1 Federal Register notice that it has added regulations to implement a Feb. 10 Burma-related Executive order.

Treasury Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo participated in a June 2 virtual roundtable discussion with representatives from organizations and associations, including NCBFAA, to discuss impacts of sanctions on their operations.

The NCBFAA Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) has been approached by FishWise, a non-profit sustainable seafood consultancy, seeking perspectives from businesses involved in the seafood supply chain on ways to improve SIMP implementation.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on June 1 notified the trade of a change to the bonding policy for a drawback accelerated payment (AP).

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on June 2 announced the suspension of one-year Section 301 investigations of Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) adopted by Austria, India, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

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:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has the authority to detain, seize, forfeit, and ultimately destroy merchandise seeking entry into the United States if it bears an infringing trademark or copyright that has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) or the U.S. Copyright Office (USCOP), and has subsequently been recorded with CBP. As an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) owner, you can partner with CBP to receive border enforcement of your registered trademarks and copyrights through CBP's e-Recordation Program.

The Lacey Act declaration will soon be required for a new list of tariffs, including new unloaded pallets or containers, certain musical instruments, essential oils and trunks/suitcases. This Phase VI of the Lacey Act declaration enforcement was originally slated to begin last October but was delayed due to concerns raised by NCBFAA and others in the trade about pallets/containers. Phase VI is now set to begin July 1, 2020 and will apply to the products shown below.

When Customs and Border Protection (CBP), or any other federal agency for that matter, suspends or "debars" a person, it excludes that person from participating in certain federal transactions, such as government contracts, subcontracts, grants, cooperative agreements, scholarships, fellowships, contracts of assistance, loans, loan guarantees, and subsidies.

The U.S. Senate is preparing to pass a major bill in support of science and technology, which also has key trade components of interest to NCBFAA members. The House is working on a comparable bill.

At the request of NCBFAA's Customs Committee and Customs Counsel, CBP now has posted contact information for its Broker Management Officers (BMOs) across the country. The list can be found here.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on May 26 passed the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021 by a vote of 20-0. The bi-partisan bill will now head to the full Senate for consideration. NCBFAA's Legislative Counsel Whitmer & Worrall highlighted the following provisions that are important to the association's membership:

NCBFAA has recognized Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Commissioner Michael Khouri for his recent tenure as the commission chairman and continued willingness to engage the association on important matters to ocean freight forwarders and NVOCCs.

NCBFAA would like to thank everyone who attended our highly successful 48th Annual Conference-whether in-person or virtually.

NCBFAA members should be aware of and expect additional Congressional and Executive action related to forced labor. The data shows an increase in withhold release orders, and a push for greater interagency coordination, NCBFAA Legislative Counsel Whitmer & Worrall said.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released updated and expanded guidelines for filing EPA-regulated pesticide and device entries.

Today's golf clubs are generally made of prefabricated components consisting of a head, shaft, and grip. Recently, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in CSMS #47830638 advised the trade how to enter golf clubs when manufactured and assembled in multiple countries with Chinese-originating components subject to Section 301 duties.