Tim Warren

The timing and structure for a long-awaited CBP proposal for Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) rules remains very much uncertain, said Elizabeth Merritt, director, Cargo Services for Airlines for America. "It's anybody's guess when something will come out of CBP," said Merritt. Merritt and others discussed the issue during a Jan. 7 webinar held by the Airforwarders Association (AfA). ACAS, which involves the early transmission of air cargo data to CBP to lessen the impact of data and screening referrals, has been operating as a pilot program since 2011.

The Court of International Trade shot down an injunction request from Otter Products that would have prevented CBP from stopping imports of some of the company's iPhone cases. The CIT found that Otter's injunction request failed to demonstrate "irreparable harm" that would result without the injunction, it said in the Dec. 23 decision (here). Otter sought the injunction as part of an ongoing battle against an International Trade Commission general exclusion order (GEO) that CBP found to include Otter's "Symmetry" iPhone cases. The court also found that it can't hear Otter's challenge to CBP's decision to exclude future cases because of a lack of detail as to how an import ban would hurt the company.

The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of Dec. 22-28:

In the Dec. 24 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 48, No. 51), CBP published notices that propose to modify rulings and similar treatment of DR-CAFTA and knit to shape garments. (here). CBP also said it is in the process of updating agency regulation in 19 CFR Section 102.21 that spell out the country of origin provisions.

CBP's proposed changes to its Importer ID Input Record (Form 5106) threaten to slow the flow of goods when using a non-resident Importer of Record (NRIOR), said the Northern Border Customs Brokers Association (NBCBA) in comments to CBP on the proposal. The new requirements would especially cause problems for Canadian NRIORs by requiring address descriptions, and any such changes should follow consultation with Canada, the group said. The American Apparel and Footwear Association also said it is concerned with the changes and asked the agency to withdraw the proposal.

The Food and Drug Administration's pilot program for a centralized entry review produced some useful insights into the agency's review process and industry's submission practices, FDA said in a report on the pilot (here). The agency began testing centralized entry review in 2013 to consider possible improvements to document processing (see 13061915). The pilot "quantified problems that slow down entry review, costing both importers and [Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA)] time and money," the FDA said in the report. "Findings suggested opportunities for improvement and led to recommendations for a renewed emphasis on more frequent training for both industry and ORA entry reviewers, standardization of entry decisions,and improved communications."

In the Dec. 17 issue of the CBP Customs Bulletin (Vol. 48, No. 50), CBP published notices that propose to modify or revoke rulings and similar treatment for the preferential treatment of garments under the Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA), Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) and Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) (here).

A proposed Federal Maritime Commission rulemaking on Ocean Transport Intermediaries still has issues despite some heavy revisions in response to industry concerns, said the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) in comments (here). The FMC requested comments on the revised notice of proposed rulemaking in October (see 14100916). While the NCBFAA said it appreciated that the FMC removed a number of the most troubling part of the previous proposal, it "still has a number of concerns."

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:

CBP's proposed changes to its Importer ID Input Record (Form 5106) would require companies to provide a overly intrusive level of detail that would not increase importer compliance, said the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) in comments to CBP on the proposal. CBP requested public comments by Dec. 8 on the proposed revisions in October (see 14100815). The proposal would add a number of new data fields to the form, which are hoped to improve CBP's risk assessment abilities. The agency falls short of that goal with the proposed form, which may instead increase privacy risks, said the trade group.