Tim Warren

CBP scheduled a webinar to provide information on updates to the focused assessment program, the agency said in a CSMS message. The webinar, planned for Oct. 9 from 2-3:30 p.m., will detail the updates to the FA audit program that will effect such audits "started on or after" Oct. 1, the agency said. "The current update involves aligning risk assessment procedures with the audit risk model in accordance with current Government Auditing Standards, emphasizing the consideration of materiality and significance throughout the audit, and replacing the Worksheets for Evaluating Internal Control -- including the sample size matrices -- with more flexible guidelines," it said. The agency has been increasing it's outreach efforts on the subject in recent months (see 14071112). Registration for the webinar is (here).

CBP released its Oct. 1 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 48, No. 39). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does include recent Court of International Trade decisions.

The Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements published a new 12-month cap on duty- and quota-free benefits for textile and apparel articles imported from designated beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries, effective Oct. 1, it said in a Federal Register notice.

CBP will "be increasing their enforcement posture" at the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach for shipments without an Importer Security Filing (ISF) on Oct. 1, the agency said in a CSMS message. CBP will "continue to place manifest holds on all cargo (full container loads and consolidated loads) that does not have an ISF on file, 72 hours before vessel arrival at the LA/LB Seaport," it said. "CBP will manually monitor the existing holds to ensure the ISF information has been filed." After the ISF is submitted, CBP will decide if additional enforcement actions, including liquidated damages for repeat offenders, are needed, it said.

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

CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Sept. 29. This report (here) includes TRQs on various products such as beef, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa products, and tobacco; and certain BFTA, DR-CAFTA, Israel FTA, JFTA, MFTA, OFTA, SFTA, UAFTA (AFTA) and UCFTA (Chile FTA) non-textile TRQs, etc. Each report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, BFTA, DR-CAFTA, CBTPA, Haitian HOPE, MFTA, NAFTA, OFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA TPLs and TRQs for qualifying textile articles and/or other articles; the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc.

International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Sept. 22-26 in case they were missed.

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

Obama Administration officials outlined the threat to international trade stemming from data localization laws in foreign countries, at a Brookings Institution event Thursday (here). Some countries have sought to restrict the flow of data across borders in reaction to NSA surveillance activities revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden, said Richard Salgado, Google law enforcement and information security legal director. Those policies can harm the U.S. economy and hamper the open Internet standards the administration seeks to secure, said administration officials.

The Port of New York/New Jersey wrongly classified imported gum that included a homeopathic drug inside, CBP said in a July 16 ruling. The agency's ruling, HQ H243587, came in response to a request for a further review of protest. CBP said a further review was granted because the company claimed the initial denied protest was inconsistent with previous CBP rulings.