CBP is requesting comments by Feb. 25 for an existing information collection for free entry of unaccompanied articles. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection without a change to the burden hours or to the information collected.
Tim Warren
Timothy Warren is Executive Managing Editor of Communications Daily. He previously led the International Trade Today editorial team from the time it was purchased by Warren Communications News in 2012 through the launch of Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. Tim is a 2005 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids.
The Senate passed the FY13 National Defense Authorization Act Dec. 21, which, as expected, includes a provision that would reduce export restrictions on some satellites and their components. The bill will next go to the President for his signature. The NDAA conference report was approved 81-14 is (here). The provision is based on the Safeguarding United States Satellite Leadership and Security Act, S-3211, introduced by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
CBP Miami scheduled two seminars on the Valentine's Day cut flower peak season plan for 2013, it said in an information bulletin. The seminars are to be Jan. 10 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the CBP Cargo Clearance Center conference room 264 6601 N.W. 25th St. Miami, Florida.
CBP released its Dec. 19 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 46, No. 52). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does include recent Court of International Trade decisions.
CBP posted an importation advisory saying mandarin or “Christmas” oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit, and pomelos are banned from non-commercial import into the U.S. “Typically we see an influx of “Christmas Oranges” around the holiday season, and when Canadian citizens travel to southern states for the winter,” said Great Falls Area Port Director Daniel Escobedo in a press release.
CBP will continue to accept applications to its Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) pilot program though Jan. 8, said a Federal Register notice. The agency received a number of requests for extensions for submitting applications and experienced technical difficulties with the email box set up for the ACAS pilot. it said. Any applicants who have not received a response from CBP will need to resubmit their applications, the notice said. The original deadline for applicants was Nov. 23.
The Food and Drug Administration will now accept electronic versions of private laboratory reports, said CBP in a CSMS message. Electronic submission is preferred, though the FDA will still accept hard copies. The FDA intends to automate its analytical reports review processes, said the CSMS message. Once that's accomplished, FDA will be able to process private laboratory analytical reports submitted via electronic means in less time than is needed to process private laboratory analytical reports submitted in hard copy forms, it said. To avoid potential delays, private laboratory analytical reports should be submitted electronically, said CBP.
The Canadian Association of Importers and Exporters (I.E. Canada) voiced some concerns for the requirement to make entry for residue as part of CBP's planned pilot program. CBP is in the process of developing a pilot program that would test new requirements for filing entries on residue contained within Instruments of International Traffic (IIT). I.E. Canada filed the comments with CBP ahead of a planned Federal Register notice detailing the pilot.
New lobbyist registrations on trade issues include:
Eli Lilly agreed to pay over $29 million without admitting or denying allegations that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) through improper payments to foreign government officials to win millions of dollars of business in Russia, Brazil, China, and Poland, said the Securities and Exchange Commission in a press release. Eli Lilly used a Russian subsidiary to pay millions of dollars to third parties chosen by government customers or distributors that rarely provided any services and in some cases funneled money to government officials, according to the SEC complaint against the pharmaceutical company. Transactions with offshore or government-affiliated entities did not receive specialized or closer review for possible FCPA violations, said the SEC. Paperwork was accepted at face value and little was done to assess whether the terms or circumstances surrounding a transaction suggested the possibility of foreign bribery, it said.