Apparel imported through the port at Newark, New Jersey, held under suspicion of being manufactured using forced labor was found to be inadmissible by CBP, in an April 26 ruling. In a rare ruling focused on forced labor, CBP found that importer Muji U.S.A. failed to provide satisfactory evidence that the goods were not manufactured with forced labor or that their supply chain was not connected with the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, finding the goods are subject to a withhold release order on Xinjiang cotton.
The fact that no one responded to comments during a recent field hearing about the expiration of the Generalized System of Preferences benefits program doesn't mean Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee don't care about GSP, House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said.
NEW ORLEANS -- While a CBP pilot on pipeline imports may not at first glance have relevance for many importers, the ramifications of the pilot could have wide-ranging effects for importers and customs brokers as CBP applies any lessons learned to its development of ACE 2.0, according to Amy Magnus of A.N. Deringer.
A majority in the House voted to restore antidumping and countervailing duties on Southeast Asian solar panels ruled by the Commerce Department to be circumventing antidumping duties on the products from China, but the 221 votes in favor are far from a veto-proof majority.
NEW ORLEANS -- Charge complaints before the Federal Maritime Commission are increasingly trending toward significant settlements or awards, industry officials said, urging shippers to file complaints if they believe they’re facing unfair carrier practices. Carriers are choosing to settle rather than draw the FMC’s attention, they said, especially for complaints involving demurrage or detention fees.
The Commerce Department extended the deadline to issue its final determinations in the anti-circumvention inquiries concerning solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, until Aug. 17. In a memo dated April 26, Jose Rivera, international trade compliance analyst at Commerce, said that "good cause exists" to give the agency more time, including the "numerous complex methodological issues for which Commerce requires more time to analyze." Rivera added that the agency received around 20 briefs from interested parties in the inquiries.
NEW ORLEANS -- Much-anticipated customs modernization legislation likely won’t be introduced for at least another few months, but the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s legislative adviser isn’t worried about running out of time for Congress to pass it into law before the presidential election cycle, she said during a panel discussion April 26.
Changes to the de minimis statute, whether excluding China or changing the threshold, have gotten the most attention in Congress of any possible customs legislative change, but CBP says its 21st Century Customs Framework will not touch the issue.
NEW ORLEANS -- The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is preparing to ask Congress to allow the Federal Maritime Commission to exercise jurisdiction over certain rail storage fees. NCBFAA is drafting a letter to Reps. John Garamendi, D-Calif., and Dusty Johnson, R-S.D. -- the two House authors of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act -- that could ask the lawmakers to require the FMC to more forcefully regulate rail-assessed demurrage fees charged on ocean containers traveling inland.
NEW ORLEANS -- The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America is in the process of making a change to the NCBFAA Terms and Conditions to include a provision “that has indemnification and hold harmless” for customs brokers reporting importer client wrongdoing to CBP, as required by recent changes to the Part 111 customs broker regulations, Lenny Feldman of Sandler Travis said during the group's annual conference April 26.