Monday Morning eBriefing

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) headquarters on March 18 issued a ruling (HQ H350722) which determined that an unlicensed company is impermissibly conducting customs business by developing an optical character recognition (OCR) tool that identifies what data will appear on an entry; deriving HTSUS subheading suggestions beyond the six-digit level via its artificial intelligence (AI) classification tool if the merchandise being classified will be entered; and, submitting and certifying CBP Form 5106 on behalf of others.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee brings to the attention of our Regular Member customs broker members recent updates to Section 232 steel and aluminum tariff applications from the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Base Metals Center of Excellence and Expertise (CEE).

Customs brokers and their clients often struggle to determine what permits or other documentation apply to imports subject to USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Attendees at this year’s NCBFAA Annual Conference will have the rare opportunity to receive hands-on training from APHIS on how to navigate the agency's online tools.

A summary of the latest legislative and regulatory transport, logistics and trade sector updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Transportation Counsel firm Venable.

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

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Mexican Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard met on March 18 in Washington, D.C., to start bilateral technical discussions in advance of the USMCA Joint Review on July 1.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome FDA Specialist, McQuate Brokerage Services, and Traverse Intermodal Solutions, which have recently joined our association. We're so excited to have these firms join our organization and we are happy to assist in any way we can!

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on March 17 deployed two new drawback error messages deployed to the ACE Certification (CERT) environment. This update supports Proclamation 10984 Adjusting Imports of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Parts, and Buses into the U.S.

This first release of the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) manifest modernization enhancement is currently in the ACE certification environment (CERT). Trade software developers may send transmissions to confirm expected responses. Deployment to the ACE production environment (PROD) is scheduled for April 25, 2026.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on March 18 announced to the trade that it has updated the ACE Document Image System (DIS) Implementation Guide to reflect reauthorized trade programs.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on March 24 will enhance ACE to enable trade users to provide ATA Carnet information as part of an electronic truck manifest filing.

President Trump on March 13 signed an Executive Order which takes on fraudulent “Made in America” claims by foreign manufacturers and sellers, “ensuring Americans get clear, accurate information, and supporting businesses that truly manufacture in the United States.”

Although our industry-leading 2026 NCBFAA Annual Conference at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa in San Antonio, Texas, on April 12-15, 2026, has sold out, we want to take this moment to thank our generous sponsors who help make this event a success.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has updated its draft implementation guide. The changes in new version 2.7, dated Jan. 14, 2026, “reflect clarification language made based on feedback from the trade community,” agency said.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) on March 12 initiated investigations into 60 countries under Section 301(b) of the 1974 Trade Act. “The investigations will determine whether acts, policies, and practices of each of these economies related to the failure to impose and effectively enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce,” USTR said.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) met with several states to discuss the Section 804 importation program (SIP) — the program which allows states and Indian tribes to import prescription drugs from Canada to significantly reduce the cost of these drugs to American consumers.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on March 12 provided an outline of its ACE IEEPA refund programming, so far, to Court of International Trade (CIT) Judge Robert Eaton. This new ACE functionality will be called the Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries (CAPE), according to the filing submitted to CIT by Brandon Lord, Executive Director of Trade Programs for CBP’s Office of Trade.

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

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on March 9 updated the Appendix Partner Government Agency (PGA) document in the “PGA Message Set Documents” section in CBP’s CATAIR webpage.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on March 10 deployed to the production environment changes related to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ACE Supplemental Guide (SG) Version 2.6. Specifically, the SG 2.6 was moved from the DRAFT CHAPTERS: Future Capabilities section to the Implementation Guide Ready for Coding section in the PGA documents, the agency said.