Monday Morning eBriefing

Industry representatives of the 15th Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) have presented more than 550 recommendations over a six-year period to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) leadership, said COAC Co-Chair Lenny Feldman during a June 23 virtual meeting.

Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) officials joined with customs brokers in a stimulating and informative webinar on CPSC's 1USG Messaging at Import on June 18. CPSC panelists Deputy Director Sabrina Keller and International Trade Specialist John Blachere explained and clarified key elements of their newly implemented messaging system. Customs broker, Adam Lees of Geodis, who has experience with the messaging system since the original pilot was launched over a year ago, shared useful pointers and best practice tips. Mike Lahar of AN Deringer and chairman of the Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) kept the conversation moving as moderator, highlighting areas of confusion and concern.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has selected AnnMarie R. Highsmith as executive assistant commissioner and John P. Leonard as deputy executive assistant commissioner of the Office of Trade.

NCBFAA President Jan Fields submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in response to its April 21 Federal Register notice to help the agency prepare a report to President Biden on the need for resilient and secure food supply chains.

The Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association (FCBF) recently sent a letter to newly appointed Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Chairman Daniel Maffei outlining ocean container carrier practices which are negatively impacting members and has asked the commission to use its statutory authority to intervene.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on June announced that an updated Drawback/TFTEA Drawback Entry Summary Create/Resubmission CBP and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) document is now available on CBP.gov and can be found at the following link: Drawback Guidelines (version 20).

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:

If you are in the U.S. military reserves, are you eligible to receive your customs broker license?

The Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act on June 8 to help the U.S. compete with China. This included reinstating the expired Generalized System of Preferences program (GSP), the Miscellaneous Tariff Bill program (MTB), and the product-exclusion process for some 301 tariffs.

Oral Argument Held. On June 17, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) held an oral argument on plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. The motion sought to create a "stand still" and suspend the liquidation on entries involving the Section 301 duties challenged in the court cases. The motion concerned unliquidated as well as future entries and to avoid irreparable harm by maintaining the status quo. However, it did not address entries that already liquidated as this likely will remain an open issue even if the court grants the injunction.

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

In early April, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) issued an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking comments on how non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) apply pass-through charges under their tariffs, and the reasonableness of certain tariff access fees. The ANPRM is a part of the FMC's initiative to review existing regulations to determine whether they are outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) still has not issued final guidance on the APHIS-Lacey Phase VI implementation, which is scheduled to occur July 1. USDA leadership is considering multiple requests to extend the deadline. The NCBFAA Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) has warned APHIS that the trade must have adequate lead time to prepare for implementation, emphasizing that it will be impossible to implement with only a week's notice.

The USDA's Perishable Agricultural Commodities (PACA) Division is reaching out to the produce industry to see if there are ways in which PACA can better serve the industry. See PACA's note to the industry, below, and feel free to share with your clients. You can provide feedback to the PACA contacts shown below.

The Senate on June 16 held a hearing to examine improvements in security, trade, and travel at U.S. land border ports of entry.

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.

Changes to two Customs and Border Protection (CBP) rulings will eliminate Section 301 tariffs on certain watch cases made in China and affect continued eligibility for duty preferences when these components are manufactured under free trade agreements or preference programs incorporating a substantial transformation rule of origin test.

The White House on June 8 announced key findings from recent supply chain reviews and recommended a series of actions to strengthen American supply chains to promote economic security, national security, and increase jobs.

The Senate on June 8 passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act to help the U.S. compete with China. A focus of the bill is investing more than $200 billion over the next five years into scientific research and technology. The legislation combines several bills from different Senate committee jurisdictions, including the Endless Frontier Act (Commerce Committee), Strategic Competition Act (Foreign Relations Committee), and Trade Act of 2021 (Finance Committee).

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.