Treasury Dept. Regulatory Agenda Mentions New Customs Rulemakings on Forced Labor, IPR Disclosures

The Treasury Department published its spring 2018 regulatory agenda for CBP. The agenda includes two new rulemakings, one involving the prohibition on imports made through forced labor and another on intellectual property rights. The forced labor proposal, expected by August, would "would generally bring the forced labor regulations and detention procedures into alignment with other statutes, regulations and procedures that apply to the enforcement of restrictions against other types of prohibited merchandise," it said. The IPR rulemaking, expected by August, would "create a procedure for the disclosure of information otherwise protected by the Trade Secrets Act to a trademark owner when merchandise bearing suspected counterfeit trademarks has been voluntarily abandoned."

Previously listed rulemakings, including a proposal to update to the (a)(1)(A) list of records required for the entry of merchandise and changes to drawback regulations, continue to be on the agenda. One item no longer included in the agenda is a final rule on potential changes to CBP regulations that would add new notice requirements and appeal procedures for when CBP suspends or revokes an entry filer code or discontinues the ability to use immediate delivery and remote location filing (RLF) programs. The 2013 proposal (see 13022521) was a major concern for the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, which has said it would likely seek legal action if CBP were to try and revoke an entry filer code (see 13043021).

The agenda lists Treasury's CBP rulemakings that are pending at the proposed, interim final, final and completed stages, as well as rulemakings that are long-term actions. The agenda lists the regulation title; past regulation(s), if any; the time frame for the next regulatory action(s), if any; a brief description of the regulation; and a contact party name and telephone number.

Agenda Highlights

Highlights of Treasury's CBP rulemakings are below. New items are marked with an asterisk (*).