Brian Feito

NEW YORK -- CBP issued a request for proposals seeking a private company to collect fines on its behalf, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said at the Court of International Trade Judicial Conference on Nov. 21. Once selected, the collection agency will cost nothing to the taxpayer, instead taking a percentage of whatever fines it collects, he said. “Perhaps they’ll do a better job,” he said, noting congressional criticism of CBP’s collection efforts. “I’m not sure,” he said. In any case, CBP will learn about new collection methods and how they work, Kerlikowske said. A CBP official said in July that CBP is going through a procurement process with “multiple vendors” to find a company to collect unpaid antidumping and countervailing duties (see 1607280025).

NEW YORK -- Allegations of antidumping or countervailing duty evasion under CBP’s new Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) regulations must include a complete theory of evasion to trigger an investigation, said Carrie Owens, acting director of operations for CBP’s new EAPA division, at the Court of International Trade Judicial Conference on Nov. 21. Simply saying that prices are too low, AD/CVD rates are high or a product is being shipped through a third country, and concluding that evasion must be occurring, is not enough to meet CBP’s legal standard -- that an allegation “reasonably suggest” an importer is evading duties -- to trigger an EAPA investigation, she said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 14-20:

CBP intends to self-initiate withhold release orders and, alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investigations into imports produced by forced labor, CBP Deputy Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said during a Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee meeting on Nov. 17 in Washington. The COAC had adopted a recommendation at the meeting that CBP clarify its ability to “self-initiate allegations.” A representative from the advocacy group Human Rights First that participated in a COAC work group on the forced labor issue urged CBP to self-initiate forced labor investigations during the meeting and, noting that the recommendations that came out of the work group didn’t “represent consensus,” asked CBP to provide an opportunity for public comments. A representative from another advocacy group that participated in the COAC work group, Humanity United, also said she has concerns about the recommendations, including disagreement with one that said CBP should set a time limit on how long it has to respond to an importer’s proof of admissibility after issuing a withhold release order. CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske told the Senate Finance Committee in May that CBP plans to self-initiate forced labor investigations (see 1605110042).

The North American Single Window should rely on common, standardized data elements -- and as few of them as possible -- to achieve “effective risk management,” said the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee in recommendations adopted at a Nov. 17 meeting in Washington. CBP should continue “detailed work” with its counterparts in Canada and Mexico to harmonize all data elements being required by all countries for the import and export manifests according to WCO standards, and should work with Canada and Mexico to allow a single filing to satisfy the requirements of multiple countries and government agencies in certain circumstances, the COAC said in its recommendations.

The transition to the incoming Trump administration will be a period of “great uncertainty” for ACE, the single window and the government officials at the heart of the International Trade Data System effort, said Christa Brzozowski, deputy assistant secretary for trade policy, foreign investment and transport security at the Department of Homeland Security. The next few months will be an “exciting time,” but “frankly a little bit of a dangerous time,” as career federal employees that won’t be replaced during the transition work to ensure their higher-ups recognize the importance of the single window effort, she said at the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee on Nov. 17 in Washington.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Nov. 7-13:

MIAMI -- Efforts toward a North American Single Window should not change the role of customs brokers in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, respectively, said Geoff Powell, president of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. The association is not looking for a “European Union model” wherein brokers would be able to conduct customs business throughout the continent, Powell said, speaking at the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 15. Instead, it’s working with CBP, Canadian and Mexican customs, and broker groups in Mexico and Canada on facilitating the sharing of data, including export and import manifest, to “make it a little bit easier in getting the data” and to avoid duplicating information, he said.

MIAMI -- CBP and the Customs Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) are ramping up efforts to improve the customs ruling process so importers can get quicker responses from CBP headquarters, said Brenda Smith, CBP executive assistant commissioner for trade, and Lenny Feldman of Sandler Travis, who co-chairs COAC’s trade modernization subcommittee. The COAC will announce a “public-private partnership” at its Nov. 17 meeting in Washington to build on its existing efforts to modernize the rulings process, Feldman said, speaking at the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 15.

MIAMI -- Any increased focus on business priorities under the upcoming Trump administration won’t be anything new and different for CBP, said Brenda Smith, CBP’s executive assistant commissioner for trade, at the Florida Customs Brokers & Forwarders Conference of the Americas on Nov. 15. The “significant change” in administrations coming this January will mean CBP will have a “new set of folks to work with” and a “new set of policy goals,” after having gotten used to the people and policy goals of the Obama administration, Smith said. Nonetheless, the new administration will likely recognize the importance of trade, given that trade was “one of the critical issues” of Trump’s campaign, she said. While Trump may bring a different perspective on the relationship between government and business, CBP is comfortable taking advice from the private sector on how government needs to interact with business to work toward a more competitive economy, Smith said.