Monday Morning eBriefing

Recognizing the rapid and unexpected increase in duties, customs brokers and warehouse proprietors increasingly are encountering situations of unclaimed, rejected, and abandoned cargo. In response, the NCBFAA Customs Committee, Transportation Committee, Committee Counsel, and Leadership have collaboratively developed a guidance document to assist NCBFAA Regular Members to address the recurring questions regarding this cargo and to clarify the rights of the transacting parties, as well as service providers.

The Vanguard Pest Control treatment provider informed the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) that it will discontinue phytosanitary fumigations and close its treatment facility at the Newark, New Jersey, location at the end of July. APHIS provided guidance to the trade.

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.

NCBFAA is excited to announce that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Acting Executive Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Field Operations (OFO) Diane Sabatino has been confirmed to speak to our association during the Government Affairs Conference (GAC) in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Sept. 8, in a fireside chat with NCBFAA General and Customs Counsel Lenny Feldman.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registration for the Oct. 22 Customs Broker License Exam (CBLE) will open on Monday, Aug. 11, at 12:01 a.m. ET and close on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Sept. 27 will implement a nationwide rejection of missing or invalid shippers and consignees in Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS). Prior to issuing rejections, CBP will implement a warning period, which also started July 28.

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) on July 28 said it has started publishing Containerized Freight Statistics (CFS) data as submitted by ocean common carriers to the FMC, in accordance with requirements set forth in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA) and codified at 46 U.S. Code § 41110.

The USDA Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) has published an update to its CATAIR guidelines. These updates to the CATAIR include clarification for filing MO2 message sets in ACE.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome Pereda Customs Broker, which has recently joined our association. We're so excited to have this firm join our organization and we are happy to assist in any way we can!

According to various news reports, President Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, July 27, announced that the U.S. and European Union (EU) have reached a trade deal.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A. are continuing to track ongoing Aug. 1 tariff announcements from the White House, and the recent trade deals reached with Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines, with the anticipation of others in the days ahead. The Committee will report any related Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance to our customs broker members as soon as it’s released by the agency.

The U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Secretary Brooke Rollins on July 24 announced the Australian Government’s decision to open its market to U.S. fresh and frozen beef.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said the updated SO70 and WO70 records will be deployed to the ACE PRODUCTION environment on Sept. 6. The code is currently available in CBP’s CERTIFICATION region.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is moving ahead with reorganization plans to transfer most of the Washington, D.C.-area USDA staff to five agricultural hubs around the U.S., including Salt Lake City, Utah; Fort Collins, Colorado; Indianapolis, Indiana; Kansas City, Missouri; and Raleigh, North Carolina. Notice to staff about their new assignments will occur over the next few months. The transfers will include more than half of the 4,600 USDA staff who work in the Washington area.

The NCBFAA Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) recently received a question from a customs broker member who was attempting to collect a food facility registration (FFR) number from a manufacturer to file prior notice (PN) for an import entry.

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

With so much focus these days on trade in Washington, D.C., it’s no surprise that registration to attend this year’s NCBFAA Government Affairs Conference (GAC) on Sept. 7-9 has now sold out, well before the early bird registration deadline of Aug. 15!

The U.S. Commerce Department on June 20 published its affirmative preliminary countervailing duty determination on temporary steel fencing from China. Preliminary CVD rates range from 33.27 to 301.83%, with most companies subject to an all-others rate of 86.24%.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on July 23 announced it has adjusted certain customs user fees and corresponding limitations established by the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) for Fiscal Year 2026 in accordance with the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act).