Monday Morning eBriefing

President Biden issued an Executive Order for the closure of executive departments and federal government agencies on Jan. 9 in observation of the recent passing of former President Jimmy Carter.

With the 484(f) Committee Changes to the HTS and Schedule B taking effect Jan. 1, the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) immediately began working with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to update the affected HTS codes in ACE and with 1USG to adjust flagging for commodities covered under AM4.

The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) issued a policy statement on Jan. 2 stating it is “an appropriate venue where private parties may bring class actions to resolve disputes covered by the statutes the agency administers.”

The NCBFAA Export Compliance Subcommittee, supported by the Transportation Committee’s legal counsel Venable LLP, has submitted detailed comments on behalf of the Association in response to the Census Bureau’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding updates to the Foreign Trade Regulations (FTR).

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Dec. 31 provided guidance to the trade on the modifications made to the Section 301 China Tariff Four Year Review which increases tariff rates on five subheadings of the HTSUS for certain tungsten products, wafers, and polysilicon.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is proposing to revise regulations to provide for electronic entry filing of data from the Certification of Admissibility (COA) form, which standardize and consolidate existing permit, reporting, recordkeeping, and entry filing requirements and allow nations to use their own aggregate catch documentation.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) noted that the Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2420, announced in CSMS 63540760, includes tariff flagging updates for Partner Government Agencies (PGAs).

Starting Jan. 1, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) staff at Champlain, New York will operate Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET, and on Sunday from 3 to 11 p.m. ET.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome ACB CHB, Aloha Custom Services, ATA Logistics, and Beja Custom House 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!

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.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reminded the trade that Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2420 was created Dec. 27 and contains 905 Harmonized Tariff Records and 5,459 ABI records.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has issued a decree that, effective Dec. 20, 2024, introduced measures to protect the Mexican textile and apparel industries while addressing compliance challenges under the country’s IMMEX program.

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

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Dec. 23 announced the initiation of an investigation regarding China’s acts, policies, and practices related to targeting of the semiconductor industry for dominance. The investigation will be conducted under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, as amended.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Dec. 26 posted an updated Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Development and Deployment Schedule.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Dec. 21 deployed a change to the ACE Production (PROD) environment to expand the Air CAMIR FSN/FSI CSN Remarks Field from 20 to 60 characters.

Canadian National (CN) and labor union Unifor said four-year tentative collective agreements were formally ratified by the employees on Dec. 22. The union represents approximately 3,300 employees at CN in Canada, working in different mechanical, clerical, and intermodal functions, all covered by multiple collective agreements.

NCBFAA submitted comments to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in response to the agency's Oct. 22 Federal Register notice identifying data elements to enforce the Russia seafood ban.