U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a 15-page memorandum containing its instructions on the filing and substantiation of claims for preferential tariff treatment made under the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA).
In the February 4, 2004 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBPBulletin) (Vol. 38, No. 6), CBP issued a notice proposing to revoke two classification rulings on certain voice and data terminal blocks. CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in this notice.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued messages on a number of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duty actions, many of which (marked by an * in the action column) were previously published in the Federal Register by the International Trade Administration (ITA) and summarized in International Trade Today.
According to the Washington File, the State Department has stated that few of the 27 nations participating in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) have indicated that they would be able to meet an October 26, 2004 deadline requiring that they issue machine readable passports that incorporate biometric identifiers. Under the VWP, citizens of the 27 countries are able to enter the U.S. for tourism or business for 90 days or less without obtaining a visa. (Washington File Pub 02/03/04, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/texts/04020305.htm)
(a) If the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the original investigation, but the manufacturer is, the AD cash deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the manufacturer of the merchandise.
On February 9, 2004, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) posted a notice to its Web site containing its 61st update to its lists of names and addresses of certain foreign companies convicted, penalized, and/or excluded from entry because of the illegal transshipment of textile products, etc.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued to the ports and posted to its Web site separate instructions regarding (1) the use of visas to make claims for duty-free treatment under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for qualifying textile and/or apparel articles (textile articles) from Benin that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after January 28, 2004, and (2) quota reporting for certain apparel articles from Benin that are subject to the AGOA aggregate tariff preference level (TPL) and its sublimit.
On February 2, 2004, the World Shipping Council (WSC), the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. (NCBFAA), and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) filed a petition with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requesting reconsideration of certain aspects of CBP's December 5, 2003 final rule on the advance electronic presentation of cargo information that pertain to inbound ocean cargo.
The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held its quarterly meeting on February 6, 2004 in Washington, DC.
In George E. Warren Corporation v. U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) upheld an earlier Court of International Trade (CIT) ruling that denied the plaintiff's claim for drawback on Harbor Maintenance Taxes (HMTs) and Environmental Taxes (ETs).