Brian Feito

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- CBP is working on a standardized process for customs brokers to vet their importer clients' powers of attorney, said Julia Peterson, chief of CBP's broker management branch, at the Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON) on Oct. 13. Every importer will be required to provide the same information, and every broker required to vet the same information, which should “level the playing field” and diminish or eliminate “broker shopping,” Peterson said.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. -- CBP is “currently on schedule” with its development of ACE drawback capabilities set for deployment in February, Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said Oct. 13 at the Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON). The agency is “planning success but will have a back-up plan” for any hiccups associated with the drawback deployment, and will share any contingency plans with the trade community this fall, he said.

The Court of International Trade on Oct. 10 dismissed a challenge to the timeliness of a CBP demand for payment from a surety related to an importer’s unpaid antidumping duties on preserved mushrooms from China. Hartford Fire Insurance argued the six-year and 30-day deadlines for CBP’s demand ran out because it should have been calculated from the date of deemed liquidation in 2006, not from the date CBP actually liquidated the entries in 2011. CIT found it did not have jurisdiction over the case because the issue should have been raised in a protest and challenged in a denied protest lawsuit under 28 USC 1581(a), not under CIT’s “residual” jurisdiction under 28 USC 1581(i).

Software developers and customs brokers expressed concerns over the upcoming Dec. 9 deployment of statements in ACE, on an Oct. 6 conference call hosted by the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. Though software developers reported that programming has been largely completed for some time, they said CBP needs to quickly issue transition guidelines and fallback procedures, especially given the widespread impact any issues with statements would have on trade.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Oct. 2-8:

With CBP regulations on new drawback procedures still not issued, software developers are growing concerned about whether they will be ready for the new system’s upcoming deployment in ACE. CBP has pledged to have capabilities in place for the new Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act drawback provisions on Feb. 24, but though the agency has found funding and begun its own programming efforts, software developers have been unable to start coding, leaving little time for testing before the deadline, several developers said in interviews.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 25 - Oct. 1:

A Porsche 911 imported from Canada but returned as faulty does not qualify for rejected or unused merchandise drawback because it lacks the required documentation and was used, CBP said in a Sept. 14 ruling. The importer did not provide sufficient proof that the sports car was defective, did not provide adequate notice of re-exportation to the port, and drove the vehicle before returning it, CBP said in ruling HQ H289069.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Sept. 18-24:

CBP Buffalo should not have denied duty-free treatment as U.S. goods returned for polo shirts screen-printed in Canada on the basis that the shirts were not originally “sold for exportation to the U.S.,” CBP said in a recent internal advice ruling. A sale for export to the U.S. is not necessary to claim classification under subheading 9802.00.50, CBP said in HQ H264961. But the goods still don’t qualify for classification in the subheading because they were imported before the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 relaxed restrictions on commingling of U.S. goods returned, CBP said.