Lawmakers were unable to reach a federal government funding deal on Dec. 21, resulting in a shutdown that began at 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 22 and has no clear end in sight. CBP held a conference call on Dec. 21 with members of the trade to discuss the agency's operations during a shutdown, according to the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. CBP will have conference calls during the shutdown and is preparing a CSMS message to detail its plans, the NCBFAA said.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
CBP is opening public discussions "to address and enhance numerous aspects of CBP’s trade mission to better position CBP to operate in the 21st century trade environment," the agency said in a notice. CBP will hold an all-day meeting on March 1, 2019, to discuss themes identified by the agency as particularly important, it said. Those themes are: Emerging Roles in the Global Supply Chain, Intelligent Enforcement, Cutting-Edge Technology, Data Access and Sharing, 21st Century Processes, and Self-Funded Customs Infrastructure.
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's notice officially delaying a planned tariff increase on goods from China is set for publication in the Federal Register on Dec. 19. Publication is a necessary step for CBP to implement the delay in ACE (see 1812140046). The third tranche of Section 301 tariffs will now go up to 25 percent from 10 percent on March 2, 2019, unless further progress is made in talks with China (see 1812010001).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:
The National Marine Fisheries Service and CBP will use a period of "informed compliance" starting Dec. 31 for entries of shrimp and abalone required to include data for the NMFS Seafood Import Monitoring (SIM) Program, CBP said in a CSMS message. "Entries will be audited, inspected, and verified for the “informed compliance” with the SIM rule starting December 31, 2018 to March 1, 2019," CBP said. "However, entries of only shrimp and abalone tariff codes [in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule] (HTS) will not be rejected if their SIM data is omitted." That period is meant to help the trade "work through any inadvertent, unintentional, or technical or concerns that may have precluded their being fully prepared to successfully submit SIM data for shrimp and/or abalone with the Entry," it said. Starting March 1, "entries that do not comply with the mandatory SIM message set requirements, including shrimp and abalone, will be refused entry," it said. A NMFS final rule issued in April said that as of Dec. 31, shrimp and abalone importers would be required to file harvest and landing data at the time of entry in ACE (see 1804230037).
CBP is awaiting Federal Register publication of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative notice delaying increased Section 301 tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods (see 1809180016). While the USTR posted the coming notice (see 1812140034), CBP confirmed it would wait to make changes in ACE until the notice is formally published in the Federal Register. The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America noted in an email to members that there's been some confusion "when customs brokers who transmit entries early for shipments arriving after January 1 notice that CBP's system applies a 25% tariff rate for these products." Brokers should be aware that "10% will be the correct duty rate on January 1, but CBP's system will nevertheless show a duty rate of 25% until official notification is published," NCBFAA said.
CBP's final rule for drawback regulations includes some changes from the proposed rule, but keeps in place much of the proposal, including the controversial provisions on drawback for excise taxes. The biggest change from the proposed rule is the elimination of limits on "mixed" claims. The final rule is a result of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act and a Court of International Trade decision that found CBP to be taking too long to issue the final regulations (see 1810120055).
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters: