The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011 (FSMA) directed the FDA to better protect public health by adopting a modern, preventive, and risk-based approach to food safety regulation. The FDA's final rule, Sanitary Transportation of Human and Animal Food (Sanitary Transportation rule), establishes requirements for shippers, loaders, carriers by motor vehicle and rail vehicle, and receivers engaged in the transportation of food, including food for animals, to use sanitary transportation practices to ensure the safety of the food they transport.

The results of CBP's October 25th Customs Broker Exam as well as the answer key and remedies available for the folks who were unsuccessful will be sent to test takers this week (the week of the 27th). The NCBFAA worked diligently with CBP to try and find a remedy for the issues experienced during the exam and we hope that our colleagues and future members are well served by our efforts.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday last week and a great start to their holiday season. As it was a short week, NCBFAA Executive Vice President Megan Montgomery dedicated a majority of her time to internal administration of the Association and preparation for a busy December of traveling. She looks forward to see everyone at either the upcoming Florida Brokers Conference of the America's or CBP's East Coast Trade Symposium. The Association continued to monitor the progress on ACE stabilization and the upcoming deployments. We are planning for the future with a staff wide meeting on how our website can better serve members over the upcoming year. If you have any thoughts on the current website (content, layout, ease of use, organization, etc.) please shoot Megan an email between now and December 8th so we can have the best staff discussion possible about how to best meet our member's needs.

Many freight forwarders, brokers, and U.S. companies are not aware of the best kept secret within the federal government. It's a tool available to help thousands of businesses expand and grow through selling their products and services internationally. The sole purpose of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is to help American businesses grow through exporting. That is why the NCBFAA is providing an opportunity to learn more about EXIM -- America's official export credit agency. EXIM empowers U.S. companies to fight for and win more international sales through providing working capital, insurance, and loan guarantees. In fact, EXIM is already providing trade finance support to many freight forwarders, including NCBFAA member firm World Commerce Forwarding, and exporters like ATN Industries.

The submission period for the 2018 CBP triennial status report and fee for all licensed customs brokers opens Dec. 15, 2017, and runs through Feb. 28, 2018.

NCBFAA has been monitoring the ACE downtime over the past 24 hours. While we are pleased that CBP was able to get ACE back up and running by 11 pm ET, we have continuing questions on downtime policies and procedures, the communication channels for those downtime producers, and port uniformity of downtime procedures. For more information about the initial CBP communications, please see CSMS message #17-000714.

The Federal Maritime Commission today announced January 16 and 17, 2018 as the dates it will hold public hearings to receive testimony from maritime industry witnesses regarding a petition filed by the Coalition for Fair Port Practices (Petition P4-16) that raised issues associated with detention, demurrage, and per diem charges.

In CSMS message #17-000718, CBP says it "intends to provide on a national basis one additional day for payments attempted to be made on November 14, 2017. CBP will work with members of the trade community that were impacted by this outage. If needed, CBP will provide support on an individual basis and address any payment issues during this outage.

NCBFAA is encouraging our members to prepare for this transition in several ways. First, please move your entry filing dates up as much as possible to minimize the number of transactions CBP is processing in ACE over the deployment weekend(s). Please minimize the number entries, if possible, on the daily statements in order to control the environment as much as possible. We suggest you move your statements that are due to be paid during the deployment week up early to avoid any miscues and non-payment. Remember to alert your clients if you move their statement dates so they too can have the best information possible. We also encourage you to reach out to your client rep to make sure they will be in the office during the deployment, and find out what your contingency plan should be if they will not be there. Find your best channel of communication with CBP ahead of the deployment so you will have the best chance of success in resolving an issue should one occur during the drop. We also recommend that you reach out to your software vendors to discuss their plans and how you can be the best partner possible for them during this deployment. Again, find a good communication channel with your vendor before the deployment so you won't have to spend precious time just trying to find the right person to speak with. Finally, you may consider sending a communication similar to the following to your clients:

A number of members have reported the growing trend by several steamship lines to stop paying forwarder compensation to ocean forwarders. Some carriers have explained their rationale for doing so is that the use of IT systems to exchange shipping data has somehow reduced the importance of services provided by ocean forwarders. The NCBFAA is well aware that this is not the case and that forwarders are often required, for example, to correct data entry errors made by the carriers, just to mention one of the key services that forwarders provide. Other carriers have provided no explanation and just take the position that they won't continue to pay compensation and simply eliminate their tariff rule providing for the payment of compensation.

President Trump announced on Friday, Aug. 22, that his administration has initiated an investigation into furniture imports, with the possibility of imposing tariffs on these products later this year.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold its next Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., from 1-5 p.m. ET on Sept. 17. The meeting will be open to the public via webinar only, the agency said.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Aug. 21 updated its IEEPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clarify the unstacking provisions. Specifically, under “IEEPA Overarching,” see the question, “What are the current unstacking provisions?”

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to track the imposition of additional Section 232 tariffs on U.S. imports aluminum and steel derivatives, watch progress of the U.S. and European Union trade framework agreement announced on Aug. 21, and monitor the Canadian government’s commitment to end certain retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods by Sept. 1.

Customs and Border Protection said recent unannounced visits at Customs Bonded Facilities (CBF) have yielded numerous cases of violations. The agency reminds CBF operators of authorities that CBP Port Directors may exercise in cases of violations.

President Trump announced on Friday, Aug. 22, that his administration has initiated an investigation into furniture imports, with the possibility of imposing tariffs on these products later this year.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold its next Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., from 1-5 p.m. ET on Sept. 17. The meeting will be open to the public via webinar only, the agency said.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Aug. 21 updated its IEEPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clarify the unstacking provisions. Specifically, under “IEEPA Overarching,” see the question, “What are the current unstacking provisions?”

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to track the imposition of additional Section 232 tariffs on U.S. imports aluminum and steel derivatives, watch progress of the U.S. and European Union trade framework agreement announced on Aug. 21, and monitor the Canadian government’s commitment to end certain retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods by Sept. 1.

Customs and Border Protection said recent unannounced visits at Customs Bonded Facilities (CBF) have yielded numerous cases of violations. The agency reminds CBF operators of authorities that CBP Port Directors may exercise in cases of violations.

President Trump announced on Friday, Aug. 22, that his administration has initiated an investigation into furniture imports, with the possibility of imposing tariffs on these products later this year.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold its next Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., from 1-5 p.m. ET on Sept. 17. The meeting will be open to the public via webinar only, the agency said.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Aug. 21 updated its IEEPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clarify the unstacking provisions. Specifically, under “IEEPA Overarching,” see the question, “What are the current unstacking provisions?”

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to track the imposition of additional Section 232 tariffs on U.S. imports aluminum and steel derivatives, watch progress of the U.S. and European Union trade framework agreement announced on Aug. 21, and monitor the Canadian government’s commitment to end certain retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods by Sept. 1.

Customs and Border Protection said recent unannounced visits at Customs Bonded Facilities (CBF) have yielded numerous cases of violations. The agency reminds CBF operators of authorities that CBP Port Directors may exercise in cases of violations.