CBP's consideration of the value that would be added with continuing education for customs brokers requirements remains a “work in progress,” said Brenda Smith, CBP executive assistant commissioner-trade, during a March 25 call with reporters. Smith, whose last day before retirement is March 26 (see 2103170057), said CBP received “a lot of comments” and “across the board, there were a number of concerns that were raised that we are going to have to think through whether the value of requiring continuing professional education outweighs” the costs. “We've got some good insight into how we could analyze those costs and benefits,” she said.
Todd Owen, former executive assistant CBP commissioner who worked in the Office of Field Operations before retiring, said during a March 3 webinar that the trade community should expect to see a lot more traditional customs work over the next few years, such as missed descriptions, undervaluation, duty evasion and import safety. Owen, who is a senior trade adviser at Diaz Trade Law, also said during the webinar that he thinks stopping goods made with forced labor is going to continue to be a priority for the Biden administration. “I don’t see this going away,” he said.
Board members and people who provide services to foreign-trade zones talked about what the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones should work on now that it lost the battle on USMCA rules of origin treatment for goods produced in those zones. “Now that provision’s back in the act, it’s going to be a real challenge,” said Melissa Irmen, chair of the NAFTZ board. The group wants to make sure a U.S.-United Kingdom free trade agreement doesn't prohibit goods made in FTZs from qualifying for rules of origin, as USMCA does. “They are concerned that the USMCA approach could be a precedent.”
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Jan. 25-29 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP plans to propose some new requirements for importing low-value shipments, Craig Clark of the Office of the Commissioner, Office of Trade Relations, said during the virtual Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness (ACSCC) meeting Jan. 28. “We are taking steps to integrate the results of both the [Section] 321 data pilot and the Entry Type 86 test into a new Section 321 data collection process through a notice of proposed rulemaking,” he said. “Included in that NPRM is a requirement for mandatory security data elements for all Section 321 shipments, and that is going to be agnostic to the mode of transportation and will include international mail as well as additional mandatory data elements if an entry is filed,” he said.
CBP published several thousand prospective rulings in 2020 on its Customs Rulings Online Search System (CROSS) database. The agency issues its rulings from either the National Commodity Specialist Division in New York, which handles issues like classification, country of origin, marking and preferential treatment, or the Office of Regulations and Rulings at CBP headquarters in Washington, D.C., which may also decide other issues, such as valuation, drawback, exclusion order enforcement and liquidation.
The White House is freezing rules that have been published, but have not taken effect, as well as proposed rulemaking and interim final rules, for 60 days from Jan. 20, so that the new administration can review the policies. The Trump administration issued a similar order in 2017 (see 1701230031), as did previous administrations.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories published in 2020 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference numbers.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Dec. 21-24 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, joined by five Republicans and two Democrats on the committee, told the Office of Management and Budget that a proposed rule to carve out items under Section 301 tariffs from de minimis needs “a thorough and complete review,” including a public comment period of 60 days. However, the letter was not signed by either of the two men who might be the chairman in January, depending on which party controls the Senate.