Tim Warren

CBP said it will seek to modify CBP Form 5106 to "more proactively collect information about importers that can be vetted by CBP." The Form 5106 revisions will apply only to new importers and others requiring an importer number for doing business with CBP, it said. CBP recently posted written responses to questions that came up in its June 7 Webinar exploring an update on broker regulations.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection released its June 20 Customs Bulletin. While the Bulletin does not contain any ruling articles, it does list recent general notices and Court of International Trade decisions.

CBP said when rail line release entry banks fall to 1% remaining, train manifests may fail. This will result in cargo disruptions and may force rail carriers to remove shipments from inbound trains, CBP said in a CSMS message. CBP recommended that at all ports filers retain a sufficient reserve to operate for 1 week at normal volume and that to monitor usage of these entry numbers to determine when you fall below this threshold. Self filers should contact CBP at the port to verify the status of their rail entry banks.

CBP's Office of International Trade issued a May 1 memo to give guidance to CBP on protecting revenue when a port believes a transaction secured through a continuous bond would jeopardize the revenue due to AD/CVD concerns. Additional revenue protection can be achieved through cash payment with live entry or obtaining additional security through a Single Transaction Bond (STB), said CBP.

The European Union asked the Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) for more time to comment on proposed classification changes of Brazilian Rum. The EU asked that the comment period deadline date be extended 30 days from June 29 to July 27 "in order to have time to analyze and prepare comments."

Lawmakers should wait until the completion of the Air Cargo Advanced Screening (ACAS) pilot before introducing legislation codifying it, said the Airforwarders Assocation (Afa) in a letter to Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine). AfA said proposed legislation, the "Secure International Air Cargo Act of 2012," would cement ACAS as law. Requests for comments to the lawmakers on the legislation weren't returned by press time.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues:

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced legislation (S-3326) June 22 they said would improve U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa and Central America. The bill would extend a key provision of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), extending a Third-Country Fabric (TCF) provision that allows African countries to use third-country fabric and then export that into the U.S. The Republic of South Sudan would also be added to the list of 48 sub-Saharan nations eligible to qualify for duty-free access to the U.S. market for certain products, including apparel, footwear and textiles.

CBP seized nearly 5,000 pounds of marijuana June 16, worth nearly $2.5 million, hidden in a shipment of watermelons, the agency said in a press release. Officers at the Mariposa Cargo facility in Arizona referred a 26-year-old male Mexican national for a secondary inspection of his tractor-trailer load of melons, said CBP. A physical inspection of the shipment revealed 674 bundles of marijuana weighing almost 5,000 pounds, co-mingled with the shipment. The marijuana had been disguised as melons and was verified by a CBP narcotics detection canine. The tractor-trailer, drugs, and produce were processed for seizure. The driver was arrested and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

CBP released the focus on the remaining Webinars on the "Role of the Broker." CBP had previously released the dates of the Webinars, but not all of the subjects.