Hemp wraps for use with non-tobacco legal herbal smoking mixtures are classifiable as "other" vegetable products, CBP said in a recently released ruling. The ruling came in response to an internal advice request, originally initiated over imports of wraps by Crown Distributing. The wraps were described by the requester as lacking tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and were intended for use only with non-tobacco legal herbal smoking mixtures.
A logistics consulting company cannot act as an importer of record for various wireless electronics devices because it has insufficient financial interest in the goods at issue, CBP ruled June 5. The decision came in response to a binding ruling request from Your Special Delivery Services Specialty Logistics (YSDS).
The Federal Maritime Commission this week released a revised version of its proposed rule on unreasonable carrier conduct to amend and add to a rulemaking that was widely criticized by shippers and lawmakers last year (see 2301250032, 2211090026 and 2210280051). The new supplemental proposed rule offers new definitions, clarifications, edits and additions that the FMC hopes will allow it to better implement a congressional mandate to address ocean carriers that refuse vessel space to shippers.
DHS will add two companies, as well as eight subsidiaries of one of those companies, to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List, according to a pre-publication notice released June 9.
German container shipper Hamburg Sud must pay nearly $10 million to OJ Commerce, an American e-commerce business, after Hamburg retaliated against OJC for threatening to file a complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission, the FMC’s administrative law judge ruled June 7. The massive fine came after the FMC said Hamburg Sud, owned by major shipping line Maersk, violated the Shipping Act’s anti-retaliation provision and refused to fulfill contract terms.
Once CBP submits its proposal for a new customs modernization law, National Foreign Trade Council Senior Director of International Supply Chain Policy John Pickel says, Congress will dig into how they want to shape the bill. It’s not an easy task to produce a bill with a balance between enforcement and trade facilitation, but that’s Congress’ intention, he said.
The delays at ports on the West Coast have been "a lot more noise than impact," affecting only a few terminals at a time for short periods, said Nathan Strang, director of ocean freight for U.S. Southwest and small and medium-sized businesses for Flexport, during a webinar June 8.
Mexico's ban on the import of goods made with forced labor went into effect three weeks ago, so if importers whose goods were detained by CBP under suspicion of forced labor wanted to re-export to Mexico, that avenue is closed, said Eduardo Sotelo Cauduro, a partner with Sanchez DeVanny, a Mexican law firm.
Customs modernization legislation should not just offer new tools for CBP to stop unlawful trade is the argument from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a dozen other groups involved in importing and exporting. The groups have 18 asks, laid out in a detailed five-page paper they sent to the leaders of the committees that will shape the bill.
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