The Federal Maritime Commission is seeking comments on potential changes to its rules for Carrier Automated Tariffs, including whether carrier tariffs should be available “free of charge” and if the definition of co-loading should be revised to apply only to “less than container loads.” Other proposed changes described in the rule, released May 9, would allow non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) to “cross reference certain aspects of other carriers’ terms in their tariffs,” clarify NVOCCs’ ability to “reflect increases in certain charges passed-through by other entities without notice,” require that documentation must be annotated with the names of all NVOCCs involved in a shipping transaction, and “make other miscellaneous updates and clarifications.”

The Federal Maritime Commission needs cooperation from the trade and logistics community to engage in meaningful enforcement, FMC Chairman Daniel Maffei said. Speaking last week at the annual National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference, Maffei said that he has been frustrated that "a lot of people expect the FMC to intervene on the side of small shippers" and don't understand the limits of the commission's authority.

TUCSON, Arizona -- CBP has made strides in improving its liquidation time frames for drawback claims, but the agency still has a hefty “inventory” of claims and could benefit from some ACE programming changes to make further progress, said Janelle Cray, chief of CBP’s drawback and revenue branch, at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference on May 4.

TUCSON, Arizona -- As CBP develops its 21st Century Customs Framework, the role of the customs broker will change in ways that reflect the new era of economic competition and “national economic security” concerns, Brandon Lord, deputy executive director of CBP’s Office of Trade Policy and Programs, said May 3 at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference.

Slightly more than half of senators want language instructing the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to reopen a broad exclusion process for China tariffs to make it into the compromise China package, according to a late-night vote May 4. Unlike most votes in Congress, support did not break down mostly along party lines. One independent who caucuses with Democrats and 23 Democrats, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., voted for the motion to instruct negotiators to include the language in the final bill; 29 Republicans, also voted for it, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Indiana's Todd Young, one of the original movers to get the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., asked for the motion, and he is also on the conference committee to blend USICA and the House China package. There were four senators absent from the vote.

TUCSON, Arizona -- CBP will be issuing its guidance on the Uyghur Forced Labor Protection Act prior to the new law’s June 21 effective date, CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said in remarks at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference May 4. The guidance, which will “provide transparency to CBP’s operational approach,” will be out “very, very soon,” he said.

TUCSON, Arizona -- CBP is considering giving filers the option of using blockchain technology for entry filing as it develops ACE 2.0, Celeste Catano of E2open said May 4 at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference. Filers would have the choice between setting up a distributed ledger to talk to CBP’s distributed ledger, or use ABI calls to CBP’s system, she said.

TUCSON, Arizona -- CBP’s development of its next generation ACE 2.0 system will require yet more implementation work from customs brokers just years after the development of the original ACE, but is necessary to avoid the pain of waiting too long to update a legacy system, as happened with the agency’s Automated Commercial System, said Brandon Lord, deputy executive director at CBP’s Office of Trade Policy & Programs.

TUCSON, Arizona -- Despite initial concerns around national permits that focused on the devaluation of the customs broker license and reduced hiring of licensed brokers, the industry should be more concerned with new responsible supervision and control criteria included in CBP’s June 2020 proposed rule amending Part 111 to eliminate district permits (see 2006040037), according to panelists speaking at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference on May 3.

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