Tim Warren

The following are the trade-related hearings scheduled July 23-27:

CBP listed changes to the Electronic Invoice Program (EIP)/Remote Location Filing (RLF) hybrid ineligible forms list (dated June 2011). CBP said in a CSMS message the following forms have been removed from the ineligible forms list and are eligible to be submitted to CBP via the EIP/RLF hybrid process:

CBP posted an updated list of the names and CBP surety codes for the sureties found on the Treasury Department's Listing of Approved Sureties (Circular 570) dated July 1, 2012. This list includes only those sureties where a 3-digit CBP surety code has already been assigned.

CBP released its July 18 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 46, No. 30). While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does list recent notices and Court of International Trade decisions.

Lawmakers on the House Ways and Means Committee said they plan to introduce HR-6156, legislation that would grant permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia. The Senate Finance Committee approved a similar bill July 18. While a review of the Senate Finance Committee’s actual legislative text is still pending, the bill is expected to mirror that Committee’s version of Russia PNTR, said the committee in a press release. Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) also said the Committee will mark up the legislation next week. The bill will be introduced by Camp, Ways and Means Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-Mich.), and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) and Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas). (See ITT's Online Archives 12071912 for summary of the Senate Finance bill.)

CBP signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to advance information-sharing among the federal agencies to improve targeting of imports for health and safety violation, said CBP. NHTSA, the nation’s chief automotive safety agency, is the eighth federal partner to join CBP’s Import Safety Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center (CTAC), a multi-agency center for targeting commercial shipments that pose potential threats to health and safety.

CBP posted a July version of its list of trade benefits for participants in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) by industry segment. Specific benefits are listed for Customs brokers, importers, self-filers, sureties, carriers, trade account owners (TAOs), as well as all users with portal accounts, for (1) ACE Secure Data Portal, (2) Periodic Monthly Statement, (3) ACE Reports, (4) Simplified Entry, (5) Entry Summary Filing(6) Document Image System, (7) Post Summary Corrections, (8) e-Manifest: Truck and (9) e-Manifest: Rail and Sea. The July version includes two new sections, Simplified Entry (SE) and Document Image System (DIS), that weren't in the previous version.

CBP posted a reminder that it is seeking applicants for the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) and that applications should be submitted to CBP by July 27.

CBP issued a final determination that the country of origin of Pwn Plugs for purposes of U.S. government procurement is the U.S. CBP concluded that the assembly and programming operations performed in the U.S. substantially transform the components of the projectors. The determination ran in the Federal Register July 23.

CBP will be deploying enhancements to the Electronic Invoice Program and Remote Location Filng programs in the fall, the agency said in a CSMS message July 19. The updates will allow Antidumping (AD)/Countervailing (CVD) consumption entry summaries (Entry Type 03) to be filed in ACE. Currently, RLF only includes filing for entry types 01 and 11.