Brian Feito

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- CBP is now at the point where importers can finally make claims for excise tax refunds under the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, said John Leonard, CBP executive director-trade policy and programs, on Oct. 19 at the Western Cargo Conference. A CSMS message sent by the agency on Oct. 16 had detailed instructions for submitting additional documentation in the Document Image System (DIS) to support claims (see 1810150010).

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 15-21:

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- A recent change to ACE processing of absolute quota entries marks a “big improvement,” especially for West Coast importers, said Pauline Hogue, program manager-trade at CBP’s Los Angeles Field Office, at the Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 19. A switch from daily batch processing to hourly processing (see 1809180015) means quota entries are processed throughout the day, and any cargo that arrived after 4:30 p.m. Pacific time will no longer have to sit until the next batch is processed the following evening Eastern time. Now such shipments will be processed at 9:45 a.m. Pacific time the following morning. The change came as part of the deployment in ACE of absolute quota functionality, which hadn’t been initially included because absolute quotas hadn’t existed for almost a decade until they were imposed as part of country-specific deals to end Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Entry filers that fail the Food and Drug Administration’s new filer review system will see increasing levels of holds if they don’t correct issues cited by the agency, said Kevin Fritz, consumer safety officer at FDA’s Division of West Coast Imports, at the Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 19. Those that receive an “official action indicated” designation from a filer evaluation and are required to implement a corrective action plan will see manual review of 40 percent of their entries, rising to 60 percent if they fail to implement that plan and 100 percent if they fail again.

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- CBP recently began its “360 degree” assessment of lessons learned from its “proof of concept” on the use of blockchain technology for NAFTA and CAFTA certificates of origin, said Vincent Annunziato, director of CBP’s Business Transformation and Innovation office, at the Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON) on Oct. 19. A report on the test should be done in November, though there’s no word yet on how the report will be released.

The Trump administration issued its Fall 2018 unified regulatory agenda, advancing its deregulatory program through “structural reforms as well as the practical work of eliminating and revising regulations,” according to the agenda’s introductory statement. The effect can be seen on the individual regulatory agendas of agencies that regulate imports and exports, with many putting out shorter lists that include the elimination of rules and the creation of new regulatory exemptions.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 8-14:

CBP must issue final regulations on drawback under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act by Dec. 17, 2018, the Court of International Trade said in an Oct. 12 decision. Capping a contentious case brought by a set of customs brokers and importers (see 1803260048), CIT Judge Jane Restani ordered that the final regulations must take effect immediately on Dec. 17, except for certain excise tax drawback provisions that may take effect 60 days later.

CBP’s approach to determining the country of origin of finished pharmaceuticals is inconsistent and makes it more expensive for government agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs to procure drugs for vulnerable patients, the Association for Accessible Medicines said in an amicus brief filed with the Court of International Trade on Oct. 1. AAM filed its brief in support of Acetris Health, a company challenging CBP’s determination that its drugs were not substantially transformed by U.S. finishing operations and are of Indian origin for government procurement purposes. In a set of rulings issued in January, CBP had applied its longstanding policy that the country of origin of Acetris’ Indian active pharmaceutical ingredients sets the origin of the entire finished pharmaceuticals, regardless of the extent of operations necessary to turn that API into medicine.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 1-7: