Tim Warren

Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) was updated Aug. 23 with 346 rulings, bringing the total number of searchable rulings to 173,742. The most recent ruling is dated 8/21/2012.

Damon Pike of the Pike Law Firm, Teresa Polino of Thompson Coburn, and Cyndee Todgham Cherniak of LexSage Professional Corporation were named co-chairs in the American Bar Associations Customs Committee for the 2012-2013 year.

CBP posted a record of changes since Aug. 8 to the ACE ABI CATAIR (Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements). The only changes were to the In-Bond chapter. The change log is (here). The full CATAIR is (here). The In-Bond chapter is (here).

A dispute over a controversial program in which some excise taxes paid on rum imports help U.S. rum producers threatens to bubble over into a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO), said the West Indies Rum and Spirits Producers Association (WIRSPA) in a release. WIRSPA represents the rum producers in the CARIFORUM, a group of 15 Caribbean countries, and the Dominican Republic.

CBP Acting Commissioner David Aguilar praised CBP's work with the trade community in creating the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs), in a speech for the World Customs Organization, according to the written remarks released by CBP. Aguilar said CBP's "Trade Transformation" initiatives, including the CEEs, Simplified Entry and Air Cargo Advance Screening, have been so far successful thanks to close work with the trade community. Aguilar said such work should "be considered as the WCO further develops the Economic Competitiveness Package." A CBP spokesman said Aguilar delivered the speech in June.

The CBP Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) recommended Seattle and San Francisco as possible sites for the coming Center for Excellence and Expertise on Apparel, Footwear, and Textile. CBP sought input from COAC and industry working groups on where to locate the CEEs. According to an industry executive involved in the process, the working groups submitted their reports to CBP Aug. 21 and CBP is expected to make its final decisions on the locations by Oct. 1.

In the Aug. 22 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 46, No. 35), CBP published a notice of its modification of rulings and revocation of treatment regarding the tariff classification of recovered refrigerant gas for preferential tariff treatment under NAFTA..

A joint effort with by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and officers from the Federal Food and Drug Administration and Puerto Rican law enforcement groups resulted in major counterfeit goods seizures in Puerto Rico, said ICE in a press release. The efforts turned up more than $18 million in counterfeit contact lenses and merchandise during the execution of several search warrants in eight different municipalities of Puerto Rico.

CBP will be making a concerted effort to recruit freight forwarders to improve understanding of Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS), currently in the pilot stage, said Daniel Baldwin, executive director of cargo and conveyance security at CBP. Baldwin spoke as part of an Aug. 22 Webinar on customs regulation hosted by American Shipper. CBP and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have said they plan to issue a regulation to require advance data submission to ACAS for all international shipments either destined for or transiting through the U.S.

CBP will begin expanding the pilot project to have export ocean manifests filed via e-mail into the Document Imaging System (DIS) in place of the physical paper document being presented at the port, Customs said in a Aug. 21 CSMS message. The paper manifest for those pilot participants will be submitted via a readable PDF attachment to an e-mail. The initial phase of the pilot began in the Atlanta field office and includes the ports of Norfolk, Newport News, Wilmington, Beaufort, Morehead City, Georgetown, Charleston, Savannah and Brunswick. The full CBP notice is (here).