Monday Morning eBriefing

NCBFAA Regulatory Affairs Committee (RAC) members were pleased to hear from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that the agency is "actively working" on a process to allow a change of port after an entry is filed.

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg PA now offers discounts to fellow NCBFAA members when they register for an STR-hosted webinar. Here's the link to the discount.

Freight forwarders are being reminded that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) security requirements takes effect for 100% of all international all-cargo flights by June 30.

USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant Inspection Stations are reminding customs brokers to expect correction requests through the ACE for cargo destined for a Plant Inspection Station. Brokers will first receive an APHIS automated "May Proceed" notification followed by either a request to correct or update their APHIS Core Message Set, as necessary.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has noticed a significant increase in truck secondary processing due to trips containing more than 100,000 bills of lading (BOLs). The current truck system (R4) is not programmed to process extremely large shipments. 

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

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.

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.

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

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: