Monday Morning eBriefing

We are all facing extreme challenges during COVID and many of our clients may not understand just what we do for them, even blaming us for delays and extra charges.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has suspended the tariff action in the Section 301 investigation of France's Digital Services Tax (DST). The additional tariffs in the amount of 25% on certain products of France were announced in July 2020 and were scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 6.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a Jan. 7 Federal Register notice that it will delay deployment for the expanded zone identification number modifications to the electronic Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) admission applications test in ACE to April 25.

TQL Global, LLC, subsidiary of Total Quality Logistics, the 2nd largest 3PL in the US, is looking for an outside consultant to assist with Ocean Transportation Intermediary operations. If you have any interest in connecting please reach out to patrick.behan@tqlglobal.com.

The NCBFAA reminds our members that we have published two Export Compliance documents to assist the freight forwarding community in guiding our export customers.

The U.S. Commerce Department recently announced the creation of the Aluminum Import Monitoring Analysis (AIM) system to enable Commerce and the public to better detect potential transshipment and circumvention involving imported aluminum products.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has notified customs brokers and the trade community that most imports of aluminum products will require an aluminum import license for each entry starting Jan. 25.

The NCBFAA on Dec. 28 responded to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's recent proposal to pursue mandatory continuing education for licensed customs brokers.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection reminded customs brokers and their importer clients about updates to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) with the Dec. 27 passage into law of the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Dec. 29 announced the Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2009 which contains 21,982 ABI records and 3,954 harmonized tariff records.

The NCBFAA on Dec. 28 responded to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's recent proposal to pursue mandatory continuing education for licensed customs brokers.

Further to the Dec. 28 Monday Morning eBriefing article, "End-of-year BIS rules impact Hong Kong, China exports," the U.S. Census Bureau's Foreign Trade Division released a message (attached here) to the trade regarding the Electronic Export Information (EEI) filings for Hong Kong.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), following the passage of the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act, reminded importers and their customs brokers that effective Jan. 1 it will maintain oversight of imports impacted by the Craft Beverage Modernization Act (CBMA).

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.

It was one year ago this week that the Customs Business Fairness Act (CBFA) was included in the December 2020 stimulus package. This gave customs brokers much needed relief from the 90-day claw back when an importer files bankruptcy.

NCBFAA is gathering data on the total cost for freight movement in the current air cargo environment and needs association members to share their input through this survey, so that we can meet our collective goal to properly inform the Biden administration and our nation’s lawmakers on Capitol Hill about the pain-points in this vital component of the international supply chain.

The ports of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach continue to postpone their “Container Dwell Fee,” this time until Jan. 3. The fee was previously set to take effect on Monday, Dec. 27, after previous postponements.

The Federal Maritime Commission on Dec. 28 issued three policy statements that provide new guidance to shippers and others on bringing private party complaints at the commission, addressing barriers identified by the trade community as disincentives to filing actions at the agency.

Congress passed the Customs Business Fairness Act on Dec. 21 as part of the latest coronavirus relief package, changing the way U.S. bankruptcy law will apply to customs brokers when importers become insolvent.

What a year! If you had told me in January that we would all turn from "road warriors" to "couch/zoom warriors," I would not have believed it. And yet, here we are.