CBP CROSS Rulings

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted the following recently revised or reviewed Informed Compliance Publications (ICPs), with May 2005 dates, to its Web site:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an administrative message stating that it has made a change for Northern Border direct arrival truck entries (mode of transportation - 30 and 31). CBP states that this change will allow CBP to make a district/port of entry change on an entry, in some cases.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued another administrative message on Remote Location Filing (RLF) for in-bonds, which is transcribed below:

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a revised version of its frequently asked questions (FAQ) and responses on its final rule requiring, among other things, the advance electronic presentation of information for inbound vessel cargo.

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council has issued projected quota levels and embargo dates, should CITA impose safeguard quotas on China origin textiles and apparel in categories 340/640, 345/645/646, 349/649, 350/650, 620, 638/639 and 647/648, as petitioned (requested) by the U.S. textile industry. For example, for China 340/640, the projected safeguard quota level is estimated to be approximately 2,000,000 dozen, and once implemented (estimated to be June or July 2005), is estimated to embargo in approximately three months. (HKTDC Alert, dated 04/29/05, available at http://www.tdctrade.com/alert/us0508.htm )

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site a notice entitled "Getting Started with EDI for ACE Electronic Truck Manifest."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued its weekly quota commodity report as of May 2, 2005. This report includes tariff-rate quotas (TRQs) on various products such as beef, tuna, sugar, dairy products, peanuts, cotton, cocoa powder, tobacco, certain JFTA, NAFTA, SFTA, UAFTA and UCFTA TRQs, etc. This report also includes the AGOA, ATPDEA, CBTPA, NAFTA, SFTA, and UCFTA tariff preference levels (TPLs) for qualifying apparel and/or other textile articles, the TRQs on worsted wool fabrics, etc. (CBP's weekly quota commodity report, dated 05/02/05, available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/commodity/)

In the April 27, 2005 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (CBP Bulletin) (Vol. 39, No. 18), CBP issued notices: (a) proposing to revoke a classification ruling on oil pan drain plugs, and (b) proposing to revoke two classification rulings on motor support bearings, oil filler caps, and felt wick lubricators. CBP states that it is also proposing to revoke any treatment it has previously accorded to substantially identical transactions that are contrary to its position in these notices.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has posted to its Web site its Performance and Annual Report Fiscal Year 2004, which covers federal fiscal year (FY) 2004 (October 1, 2003 - September 30, 2004), with discussion of some subsequent events.

The American Shipper reports that in January 2005 General Electric, the manufacturer of the only electronic seal picked by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for validation tests, stated that it had successfully detected several container intrusions during field testing, and would have a commercially available device by the third quarter of 2005. However, the article states that GE must convince CBP the device meets the agencys' requirements for a 'smart box,' which would mean, among other things, getting the false alarm rate below 1%. (American Shipper, April 2005.)