Brian Feito

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Implementation of new trade enforcement provisions of recently passed customs reauthorization legislation will not result in an overall increase in cargo exams, said CBP officials speaking April 19 at the annual conference of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. Though CBP is focused on creating its new Trade Law Enforcement Division tasked with issuing trade alerts (see 1602230080), as well as implementing new programs to apply risk assessments (see 1602170074), the agency’s overall goal is better targeted exams, not more of them, they said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 11-17:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of April 4-10:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 28 - April 3:

CBP is continuing to track stakeholder readiness for ACE transition, and expects its first mandatory use date on March 31 to proceed smoothly, said an agency spokeswoman that same day. The switch from a hard Feb. 28 deadline to phased approach “has alleviated concerns voiced by the trade community regarding readiness by staggering the integration of the PGAs, and allowing more time for all parties to fully transition to ACE,” she said.

Screen printing frames imported by Rheetech are not covered by antidumping duties and countervailing duties on aluminum extrusions from China because they are imported fully assembled, regardless of whether they are parts for larger screen printing machines, said the Court of International Trade in a March 31 decision (here). Again applying the logic he set forth in a February court ruling that found the scope of extruded aluminum duties does not cover assembled merchandise (see 1602020072), CIT Chief Judge Timothy Stanceu found Rheetech’s frames are not subject to duties because they are assemblies, not “shapes and forms,” and are not “subassemblies” because they are not “partially assembled.”

After months of hand-wringing and multiple delays, the first ACE mandatory use date on March 31 looks set to go smoothly, said software developers and customs brokers the day before the transition. CBP’s phased implementation approach appears to have paid dividends, with March 31 marking no change at all for many filers who already file the required types of entries and entry summaries in ACE, they said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of March 21-27:

A polyurethane coated cotton fabric that has a “flattened weave” but otherwise appears uncoated is not a plastic coated fabric for the purposes of tariff classification, said CBP in a recent ruling. Citing a note to HTS chapter 59 that requires any plastic coating to be visible to the naked eye for classification as a plastic-coated fabric under heading 5903, CBP said in ruling letter HQ H257262 (here) that a lack of visible indications of any coating – such as blurring or obscuring of the underlying weave – means the fabric is instead classifiable as a cotton fabric.

The Food and Drug Administration’s recent move to relax certain ACE data element requirements includes a more permanent change that will make filing of certain active pharmaceutical ingredient data optional, said FDA officials during a March 23 webinar. While the agency will only temporarily allow filing of a “UNK” code, indicating unknown, for intended use, brand name and device listing number data elements beginning April 5 (see 1603210028), the shift of the active ingredient producer data element from mandatory to optional will remain in place “for the foreseeable future,” said Sandra Abbott, director of FDA’s Division of Compliance Systems.