CBP Office of Trade Still Assessing Effects of Shutdown

CBP's Office of Trade will be examining the effects of the recent partial federal government shutdown and what needs to be prioritized now that government operations are being funded again, an agency spokesman said. "Approximately 95% of the Office of Trade’s staff were furloughed and not working during the shutdown," he said. The agency "will be spending much of the next few weeks assessing program-by-program impact, and determining what, if any, delays in policy implementation there will be (including to new [Form] 5106 deployment)," the spokesman said. "As we undertake these assessments, we will be communicating with trade stakeholders to apprise them of impact, anticipated adjustments to schedule, etc."

Meanwhile, CBP corrected itself over some statements made during a conference call last week about the April customs broker license exam (see 1901230040). The 2018 Harmonized Tariff Schedule will be used on the April exam, rather than the 2019 HTS, according to an emailed summary of a Jan. 28 CBP call from the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. CBP typically uses the previous year's HTS for the April exam, it said. CBP also noted that the partner government agencies will be catching up. "CBP expects a backlog for the PGAs to work through before things get back to normal and ask for patience as they get up and running," the NCBFAA said. "If you have a particular question regarding cargo release, start with the ports."