CBP issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of Dec. 17. This report 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.
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.
CBP issued a CSMS message announcing that in accordance with 19 CFR 142.21(i), it is issuing a "blanket" authorization to allow the release of most types of merchandise on or after Dec. 17 through Dec. 31 under Immediate Delivery (I.D.) procedures.
New foreign markets have been deemed detrimental to U.S. intellectual property, the U.S.Trade Representative said in its annual Notorious Markets List . The list "identifies selected markets, including ones on the Internet, that are reportedly engaged in substantial piracy and counterfeiting" and "have been the subject of enforcement actions or that may merit further investigation for possible [intellectual property rights] infringements," the USTR said in the report. The report outlined the "most prominent examples ... of notorious markets," including China-based Xunlei, which offers pirated content through deep-linking, cyberlocker services and peer-to-peer networking.
Due to the elimination of absolute quotas under recent changes to informal entry regulations, articles classified in several HTS sections and chapters won't require formal entry if the value is in excess of $250, said CBP in a CSMS message. CBP is in the process of updating is ACS systems, it said. Affected sections and chapters are:
Federal authorities at a Los Angeles International Airport express cargo consignment facility interdicted more than a hundred shipments containing suspected counterfeit goods in stepped-up enforcement actions as part of Operation Holiday Hoax, an international effort targeting the importation and distribution of counterfeit and pirated products, said CBP in a press release.
Sen. Robert Portman (R-Ohio) continued to push back against the miscellaneous tariff bill (MTB) process, urging lawmakers to approve legislation that would have the International Trade Commission lead the process rather than Congress. Portman wrote about the issue Dec. 14 in his weekly column on his Website. The MTB, typically passed by every congress to suspend tariffs on certain products, has faced recent objections over whether MTB violates a congressional ban on earmarks.
The transition from ACS to ACE M1 created a discrepancy with how ACE matches the names of importers and consignees appearing on inward vessel manifests for which confidential treatment for inward vessel shipments was granted, said CBP in CSMS message. That issue has been resolved and CBP has implemented a technical fix to ACE’s name-matching function, the agency said. CBP also recreated the data extracts and made them available to subscribers so that they can update their own sites to remove any confidential information that may have been inadvertently released.
President Barack Obama signed into law HR-6156 Dec. 14, giving Russia and Moldova Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status. The bill repeals the Jackson-Vanik amendment, which limits U.S. trade with communist countries.
The White House released a list of completed items as part of the joint U.S.-Canada "Beyond the Border" initiative. The White House press release is (here). The report is (here).
House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) introduced their own customs reauthorization bill Dec. 13. That bill, the Customs Enhanced Enforcement and Trade Facilitation Act (HR-6656), is almost exactly the same as the customs reauthorization bill introduced by House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) Dec. 7. The main difference between the two bills is language on antidumping/countervailing duty evasion.