CBP scheduled an additional Webinar as part of the agency's "Role of the Broker" outreach effort focused on the rewrite of broker regulations, said Elena Ryan, CBP's acting director-Trade Facilitation and Administration, during the Sept. 20 Webinar. The new Webinar will take place on Oct. 11 and will focus on brokers' interaction with the Centers for Excellence and Expertise. The full schedule of the Webinars is (here).
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 released its Sept. 19 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 46, No. 39). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does list recent Court of International Trade decisions.
Minority Chief Trade Counsel Viji Rangaswami for the House Ways and Means Committee is leaving the committee. Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee. Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) wished her well in an opening statement of a Sept. 20 hearing on international service agreements. Rangaswami is "leaving the Committee after over a decade of service" and has provided important contributions in "her work on free trade agreements, our preference programs, our trade remedy laws, Trade Adjustment Assistance, and China policy," he said. The Democratic office of the House Ways and Means committee declined to comment further.
A pilot project that reduces inspections of meat imported through Canada would loosen safety requirements and is of real concern, said the Safe Food Coalition in a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The group, which includes Food and Water Watch, the Consumer Federation of American and the National Consumers League, also complained of bureaucracy of the "Beyond the Border" (BTB) initiative, an effort to facilitate trade and travel between the U.S.
Business groups voiced disappointment at the lack of action on granting Russia Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) and pushed lawmakers to take up legislation. “American businesses are now at a disadvantage vis-à-vis our competitors worldwide because Congress and the White House haven’t yet put in place PNTR with the world’s 9th largest economy, Russia,” said Business Roundtable President John Engler. “Russia PNTR is one of the only opportunities still this year to increase U.S. exports, support American jobs and grow the economy, and Congress and the White House should take immediate action to approve PNTR when members return later this fall." There is "strong bipartisan support for PNTR, as was evidenced by unanimous and near-unanimous votes in the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee,” he said. The statement is (here).
CBP is requesting comments by Nov. 20 for an existing information collection concerning CBP protest forms. CBP proposes to extend the expiration date of this information collection with no change to the burden hours or to the information collected. The notice ran in the Federal Register Sept. 21.
The International Trade Administration issued a notice soliciting applications from persons1 who cut and sew men's and boys' worsted wool suits, suit-like jackets, and trousers in the U.S. for an allocation of the 2013 tariff rate quotas on certain worsted wool fabric. Applications must be received or postmarked by 5 p.m. Oct. 22.
The International Trade Administration issued a notice soliciting applications from persons or firms that weave certain worsted wool fabrics in the U.S. suitable for making men's and boys' suits, suit-type jackets, or trousers for an allocation of the 2013 tariff rate quotas on certain worsted wool fabric. Applications must be received or postmarked by 5 p.m. on October 22.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee gave its approval to an amended S-2215, The Increasing American Jobs Through Greater Exports to Africa Act, during a Sept. 19 markup. The legislation is meant to create U.S. jobs by increasing "exports to Africa by at least 200 percent in real dollar value within 10 years," according to the bill's description. The bill would increase the number of Overseas Private Investment Corporation and U.S. Export-Import Bank employees focused on Africa.
CBP won't be giving any extensions to the Sept. 29 deadline for the required transition to ACE M1 for transmitting advance rail and sea cargo information, it said in a message reminding the trade of the coming change. As of Oct. 1, ACS/AMS EDI Ocean Manifest functionality will be transitioned to ACE as part of the ACE M1 Ocean and Rail Deployment. When this transition takes place, Ocean Manifest users will no longer be able to transmit or receive data via ACS/AMS. Programming changes to comply with the modified record formats must be made in order to continue filing manifests electronically. Any transactions not conforming to the ACE message formats will be rejected.