Brian Feito

An importer can’t be held liable under a Connecticut unfair trade practices law for violations of customs regulations, the Connecticut U.S. District Court said in an Aug. 24 decision. Activities subject to a comprehensive regulatory scheme, such as importation, are exempt from the state law, and allowing use of the state law would “upset the carefully crafted equilibrium” provided for in the Tariff Act of 1930, the court said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 20-26:

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 13-19:

ATLANTA -- A “proof of concept” set to begin in September will provide for brainstorming and early-stage testing on the use of blockchain technology in processes related to NAFTA and the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), Vincent Annunziato, director of CBP’s Business Transformation and Innovation Division, told a group of reporters at the CBP 2018 Trade Symposium on Aug. 14. CBP will consider not only the technical capabilities of blockchain and any business benefits but also whether use of the technology fits with the agency’s regulatory and policy scheme.

ATLANTA -- The Trump administration is not operating off a set benchmark for when to lift Section 232 tariffs on iron and steel products, and any decision to end the duties is at the discretion of the president himself, said Earl Comstock, director of the Commerce Department’s Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, at CBP's 2018 Trade Symposium on Aug. 14. Though Commerce in its Section 232 report set a threshold of 80 percent steel industry capacity utilization to judge the sector’s health, President Donald Trump in imposing the tariffs was “very careful to say that we’re not looking at a specific thing,” Comstock said. “We’re not going to be measuring and say when it hits 80 percent, boom, everything disappears,” he said. The capacity utilization rate could be lower or higher. “It’s really up to the president to make that determination,” considering the overall health of the industry and its ability to stand on its own, as well as whether arrangements have been reached with other countries to address issues such as overcapacity, Comstock said.

ATLANTA -- CBP will sometime in the next month be providing a document outlining the policies of its partner government agencies (PGAs) for Section 321 shipments, said Danielle Pierson, a CBP international trade specialist, at the agency’s 2018 Trade Symposium on Aug. 15. Developed by a working group of the Border Interagency Executive Council, the document will be distributed via CSMS message, she said.

ATLANTA -- CBP is set to begin two “proofs of concept” in fiscal year 2019 to test out a single replacement for company unique identifiers used by CBP and its partner government agencies (PGAs), said Danielle Pierson, an international trade specialist at CBP’s Office of Trade Policy and Programs, at the CBP 2018 Trade Symposium on Aug. 15. The goal of the agency’s “global business identifier initiative,” currently under discussion by a Border Interagency Executive Council working group, is to develop a set of identifiers that can be used across the government as well as replace CBP’s own problematic manufacturer ID (MID), Pierson said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Aug. 6-12:

ATLANTA -- CBP is focused on the related goals of deploying new technologies and catching up with the massive growth in e-commerce as it moves toward the end of the decade, CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said in opening remarks at the agency’s 2018 Trade Symposium Aug. 14. Beyond helping CBP confront the “seismic shift” in the supply chain over the past several years, new technologies will soon also smooth trade across land borders and improve the agency’s targeting efforts, McAleenan said.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of July 30 - Aug. 5: