Tim Warren

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet July 27 in Boston, CBP said in a notice (here).

The addition of customs brokers and transportation intermediaries to a Commerce Department trusted trader program for seafood imports would not make much sense, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in recently filed comments (here). "Both lack the necessary knowledge of or control over the chain of custody of imported fish and fish products," the NCBFAA said. The NCBFAA filed the comments in response to a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) request for public input on the development of a trusted trader program for seafood imports (see 1604280024).

Imported building units that are combined with other units to form bigger buildings are best classified as prefabricated buildings, CBP said in a May 19 ruling (here). The units in question are imported by OneBuild largely assembled, including with drywall lining, doors and windows, CBP said. The company, represented by Expeditors Tradewin, said the units are better classified as a structure of iron or steel.

CBP is considering an expansion to the definition of "importer" under Importer Security Filing (ISF) regulations, the agency said in a notice (here). The proposed changes are meant "to ensure that the party that has the best access to the required information will be the party that is responsible for filing the ISF," the agency said. The proposed changes would "simply shift the legal responsibility in some cases for filing the ISF from one party to another for a subset of the total cargo," though "in the vast majority of cases, there will be no change in who submits the data," CBP said. Comments are due Sept. 6.

The use of a single bank account by multiple companies to fund CBP Automated Clearinghouse (ACH) accounts doesn't count as "customs business," CBP said in a June 3 ruling (here). CBP weighed in on the issue in the ruling, HQ H261011, at the request of one of the companies that is considering the use of a joint bank account. The ACH accounts are programmed to automatically sweep monies out of an account electronically to pay duties to CBP.

A wide range of trade associations called on the Obama administration to request a re-examination of the law that requires 100 percent scanning on U.S.-bound maritime cargo containers, in a June 20 letter (here) to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson. DHS recently notified Congress that it again needs a two-year delay in the deadline to implement the requirement (see 1605310028). The industry signatories, made up of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, the National Retail Federation, the American Apparel and Footwear Association and 67 other organizations, also expressed support for extending the implementation deadline.

Container weights "as determined by terminal operators, can and should be classified as the Verified Gross Mass (VGM) of the container," Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordero said in a June 16 news release (here). That's an "obvious solution" and one that would add some much need certainty to the new requirements, which go into effect July 1, Cordero said. There's ongoing controversy about U.S. implementation of the International Maritime Organization rules under the Safety of the Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) that will require container weight verification (see 1603030014).

There's already a "strong case" to quickly expand pre-inspection programs for goods entering the U.S. from Mexico based on the ongoing pilots, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said while speaking June 15 at a Wilson Center event about the U.S.-Mexico border (here). Despite the promising early stages of the programs (see 1601130018), there are some political issues, particularly immigration and border security, that make more rapid expansion difficult, Kerlikowske said. "I think more can be accomplished as we look at these pilot programs," but "I would not expect significant changes" in the near future as evaluation continues, he said. "There's nothing that I would see in the future that would inhibit expansion and discussion around some of these."

An importer of refurbished ink cartridges didn't provided enough proof to show the cartridges were originally bought in the U.S., CBP said in a recently released ruling from March 18 (here). CBP said in HQ H270324 that the cartridges fell within the scope of an International Trade Commission general exclusion order (GEO) related to patent infringement. "The issue presented is whether the patent rights practiced by the refurbished ink cartridges and inkjet cartridges of the excluded shipment have been exhausted by a first sale and thereby fall within the scope of the ITC’s general exclusion," the agency said.

A federal judge recently approved a Department of Homeland Security search warrant request to investigate possible wood imports that violate the Lacey Act, said a June 6 filing with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. The request involves Global Plywood and Lumber, a California company suspected of illegally importing wood from Peru. The DHS investigative arm within ICE, Homeland Security Investigation, began the investigation last year after the Peruvian Forest Service provided evidence that an illegal wood shipment was destined for the Port of Houston, the filing said.