CBP CROSS Rulings

The publication Seaports Industry Update has issued an initial assessment of port conditions in New Orleans, dated August 31, 2005, after the impact of Hurricane Katrina. The initial assessment lists specific wharfs and facilities, with a note from the President and CEO of the Port of New Orleans stating that "The outcome is not good, and it has been aggravated by unexpected flooding following the storm. Yesterday I thought the damage could have been worse, but today I'm not so sure." Seaport Industry Update, dated 08/31/05, available by fax by emailing documents@brokerpower.com )

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message stating that the new regulations on wood packaging material (WPM) that take effect on September 16, 2005 makes current edits related to China and Hong Kong reporting the solid wood packing material (SWPM) indicator in the entry summary 52 record (position 3) unnecessary.

The Journal of Commerce reports that the Coast Guard had closed all ports from New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Katrina on the morning of August 29, 2005. The article reports that the Coast Guard set Hurricane Condition X-Ray or Condition Three, for affected ports on Saturday, meaning the ports were open for departing vessels, but no vessels were allowed to come into port with the exception of inland barge traffic. (JoC Online, dated 08/29/05, www.joc.com.)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a memorandum describing the terms of a new Harmonized System (HS) Explanatory Note (EN) for heading 4202 on certain containers with an outer surface of grain or split leather that has been coated with a thin layer of plastics or synthetic rubber.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a new "Trade Engagement Biweekly Reports" which summarize topics discussed during workshops held to develop the business requirements for Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Release 5.

The Journal of Commerce reports that in July 2005, Representative Dave Weldon (R-Fla) introduced H.R. 3319, the "Short Sea Shipping Tax Exemption Act of 2005" in order to exempt coastwise container, ferry or roll-on, roll-off traffic moving between U.S. mainland ports from paying the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT, or HMF), which is seen by advocates as one of the major barriers to developing coastwise shipping as an alternative to land freight transport. (JoC, dated 07/25/05, www.joc.com )

In the July 20, 2005 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 39, No. 34), CBP issued a notice modifying a classification ruling on tertiarybutylamine. CBP states that it is also revoking 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's (CBP's) Office of Information and Technology has posted a notice to its Web site containing (a) a list, updated as of August 17, 2005, of companies/persons offering Sea Automated Manifest System (AMS) data processing services to the trade community, and (b) the Sea AMS Respondent Checklist, as follows:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a general notice regarding its plan to conduct a voluntary test of the Electronic Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) Admission Application Program. The following are highlights of this general notice:

In the August 10, 2005 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 39, No. 33), CBP issued notices: (a) proposing to modify a classification ruling on a carrying case, and (b) revoking a classification ruling of a plastic-coated leather cosmetics bag. CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke, or is revoking, any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in these notices.