Monday Morning eBriefing

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome All Borders Incorporated, Amari AI, D&L CHB, DT Logistics (Hong Kong), Lisa L Covington dba Covington Customs Brokerage, and R&R Customs Brokers 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!

FIATA on Saturday, Jan. 10, notified the trade that the European Commission has updated the list of “Stop Words”. These terms are deemed to indicate insufficient data quality during the Entry Summary Declarations (ENS) and may lead to automatic filing rejections under Import Control System 2 (ICS2), with potential consequences for supply chain reliability and regulatory compliance.

The U.S. Supreme Court was expected to release its decision on Friday, Jan. 9, related to two pending cases challenging the legality of the issuance of President Trump's IEEPA tariffs, but delayed the release. The court, which returned from its winter holiday on Jan. 9, is now anticipated to announce its IEEPA tariff decision early this week.

Starting Feb. 6, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will issue all refunds electronically via Automated Clearing House (ACH) (subject to limited exceptions), as announced in the Electronic Refunds Interim Final Rule published Jan. 2, 2026 in the Federal Register (FR Document 2025-24171).

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) held a "eFiling Is Only 6 Months Away" webinar on Jan. 8, which can now be viewed online. Mandatory e-filing of CPSC certificates takes effect July 8, 2026.

As of Jan. 1, the Certificate of Admissibility (COA) requirements under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) are in effect for certain seafood shipments from certain countries with restricted fisheries. There is not a transition period of soft enforcement, despite the complexity of this new requirement and the confusion surrounding it.

The Automated Export System (AES) has been updated to create License Code C79. As a result of recent Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) actions, there are no production facilities of advanced-node integrated circuits which can receive items subject to the EAR.

The Census Bureau has updated the Automated Export System (AES) to accept the changes to the Schedule B that took effect Jan. 1, 2026. The agency will accept outdated codes during a 30-day grace period. However, reporting an outdated code after the grace period will result in a fatal error.

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

Don't wait to register to attend the upcoming 2026 NCBFAA Annual Conference at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa in San Antonio, Texas, on April 12-15, 2026, or it may be too late to secure your place at this industry-leading event.

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) Atlanta Region announced on Jan. 7 the opening of a new Centralized Examination Station (CES) for the Port of Charleston which will officially begin operations on Jan. 26. East Coast Warehouse and Distribution has been selected as the authorized CES for the agency in the port.

In preparation for the launch of the Forced Labor Portal this month, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said it will conduct three webinars from Jan. 13-15 to train users on the new portal’s functions for the submission of four types of review requests.

Data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reveals an increase in the number of Emergency Action Notifications (EAN) in FY 2025 (from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025) issued by CBP Agriculture Specialists for USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)-regulated imported products.

The U.S. Commerce Department released its preliminary assessments on Jan. 1, which significantly lowered the provisional tariff rates established on Sept. 4 for Italian pasta imports from 91.74% to 2.26% for La Molisana, 13.98% for Garofalo, and 9.09% for the remaining 11 non-sampled producers.

President Trump on Dec. 31 signed a Proclamation to delay the anticipated Section 232 tariff increases for imports of upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities for another year. Under the initial Sept. 29, 2025, presidential proclamation, the Section 232 tariff increases for imports of upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, and vanities were set to take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Jan. 1, 2026.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has amended its regulations to reflect that, subject to limited exceptions, the agency will issue all refunds electronically. In a Dec. 31 Federal Register notice, CBP explained the process required to receive electronic refunds and the process to receive paper checks in those rare instances where the recipient meets the criteria for a waiver.

NCBFAA submitted comments to a Dec. 1 Federal Register notice in which Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has proposed to modify Block 21, 22, 23, and 24 and modify Block 31 to the CBP Form 7501 to allow for the situation where there are multiple countries of melt and pour or smelt and cast, when applicable.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Area Port of Seattle is requesting comments from the trade regarding proposed fee revisions being proposed by the Area Port of Seattle Centralized Examination Station (CES) operators Mercer Logistics at Burien and Fife.

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