CBP needs to ensure the messages Partner Government Agencies send through the Automated Commercial Environment are easy for the trade community to understand by providing adequate detail on which agency is involved and standardizing PGA messaging, said the CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations’ 1 U.S. Government at the Border (1USG) subcommittee in recommendations presented to the agency at the Feb. 11 COAC meeting in San Francisco.
Brian Feito
Brian Feito is Managing Editor of International Trade Today, Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. A licensed customs broker who spent time at the Department of Commerce calculating antidumping and countervailing duties, Brian covers a wide range of subjects including customs and trade-facing product regulation, the courts, antidumping and countervailing duties and Mexico and the European Union. Brian is a graduate of the University of Florida and George Mason University. He joined the staff of Warren Communications News in 2012.
Despite expectations to the contrary, no recommendations on the collection of importer bona fides by customs brokers were forthcoming at the Feb. 11 meeting of the CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations. Although it had appeared on the agenda (see 1501200017), the report of COAC’s Trade Modernization Subcommittee, which advises CBP's role of the broker activities, said it unfortunately “struggled to come to an agreement as to how the importer can identify themselves to the Customs Broker with an acceptable Bona Fides.” With the end of COAC’s current 13th term, the issue will head to the next term without outgoing role of the broker working group lead Jeff Coppersmith, who is departing the COAC. The advisory committee’s bona fides recommendations had initially been on hold while revisions to CBP Form 5106 were in development (see 13111801). CBP released its proposed revisions in October (see 14100815).
The transition of cargo release to the Automated Commercial Environment in November is going to be marked by a transition period that will require some heavy lifting from the trade community, said CBP officials at a National Association Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) seminar on Feb. 10. While CBP hopes to get everyone to the point where they can exchange electronic messages, it remains to be decided how automation will work at the operational level for entities like terminal operators, truck drivers, and container freight stations that currently stamp paper, said James Swanson, CBP director-cargo security and controls.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Feb. 2-8:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 26 - Feb. 1:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 19-25:
Two U.S. sugar refiners are asking the International Trade Commission and the Commerce Department to reopen the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations on sugar from Mexico (A-201-845/C-201-846). Imperial Sugar Company and AmCane Sugar, both “destination refiners” that import raw sugar for refining, filed requests over the past month with both agencies. According to John Magnus of TradeWins, who represents AmCane, the two companies are unhappy with price and quantity limits in the suspension agreements that cut their operating margins and make it difficult to import raw materials.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 12-18:
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Jan. 5-11:
On Jan. 5 the Food and Drug Administration posted new and revised versions of the following Import Alerts on the detention without physical examination of: