Monday Morning eBriefing

GSP will expire on December 31, 2017 and all goods previously eligible for duty free benefits under the program must be entered with the payment of duties and MPF. CBP has issued instructions (CSMS 17-00789) indicating that otherwise GSP-eligible importations should be flagged with the appropriate Special Programs Indicator ("A," "A*," or "A+"). CBP is developing programing to provide for the batch processing of refunds on all importations made with SPI "A" and duties paid in the event that GSP is renewed with retroactivity.

This week NCBFAA Executive Vice President Megan Montgomery attended the NCBFAA Legislative Committee meeting, which focused on the recently introduced bankruptcy bill and our industry efforts to support getting that passed, sat in on the TSN's Trade Leadership Call, staffed the Customs Committee meeting and tried to put all the loose ends on her desk to bed before the new year starts with some administrative work over the course of the week.

As you know, the FMC has initiated - at the NCBFAA's request - a proposed rulemaking that seeks to further ease regulatory requirements on NRAs and NSAs. The Association will be filing comments and we hope that the members will also individually file comments. For that purpose, you can review the comments you originally filed in the Docket P2-15 that supported the Association's petition in this matter. We will provide further information to assist you in drafting those comments.

On December 14, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY) introduced the Customs Business Fairness Act (HR 4657) to provide relief to customs brokers for duties paid on behalf of importers who declare bankruptcy. Congressman King described the bill as "an effort to eliminate an unfair financial burden borne by customs brokers."

With 2017 rapidly coming to a close, we are looking at supporting our members through the turn-over into the new year. At the writing of this article, it does not appear that GSP will be renewed. NCBFAA has previously published instructions on setting the GSP preferences to have the date of presentation be the date of entry. We encourage you to work with your clients to maximize the savings under this program by timing your entries appropriately.

With year-end fast approaching and the holidays here, what better gift to share with someone (or yourself) than registering for the 2018 NCBFAA Annual Conference in beautiful Rancho Mirage, CA!

A second request to confirm the accuracy of the corporate information in the NCBFAA databases was sent to those designated as the primary contact to represent their company for the NCBFAA. For those who had responded to the original request, thank you; all others are encouraged to please take a few minutes to use the access credentials included in that email communication to review, and if necessary to update, your company's information. Even if you already responded, you may want to confirm that your updated information is correct.

As we have reported previously, the NCBFAA is a member of the Coalition for Fair Port Practices and submitted a petition with the FMC asking if the agency would issue an interpretive rule relating to the imposition of demurrage and detention practices. More specifically, the petition, which is docketed as petition number P4-16, asked the commission to require the carriers to extend free time in those situations when NVOCCs and VCOs are unable to pick up containers from the port due to unusual weather, port congestion, labor unrest or other issues beyond their control. That petition has of course been strenuously opposed by carrier and port interests

Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1708 was created on December 20, 2017 and contains 33,859 ABI records and 6,591 harmonized tariff records.

With 2017 rapidly coming to a close, we are looking at supporting our members through the turn-over into the new year. At the writing of this article, it does not appear that GSP will be renewed. NCBFAA has previously published instructions on setting the GSP preferences to have the date of presentation be the date of entry. We encourage you to work with your clients to maximize the savings under this program by timing your entries appropriately.

The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will soon begin implementing a far-reaching traceability program for imports of 11 species of seafood and products containing the seafood. Beginning January 1, new data elements must be submitted through ACE.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO - www.gao.gov) is composing a report on Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway (GLSLS) shipping for the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency that investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars on behalf of Congress.

Last week, NCBFAA Executive Vice President Megan Montgomery was focused on diving into NCBFAA's relationship with CBP from the daily ACE status calls to continued discussions on the NCBFAA priorities. There was robust dialogue to follow up the well-attended East Coast Trade Symposium. She had the opportunity to spend time with American Shipper, working on our partnership for the upcoming year. She supported the ongoing NCBFAA Board's strategic planning initiative, to be fully unveiled at the 2018 Annual Meeting as the path forward for the Association for the next five years. Last week was also the week for the monthly "usual suspects" gathering at a fellow trade association office, where Executives of trade associations, who really understand the technical aspects of customs and trade, meet once a month to share information and strategy to help better serve our members by working together. Finally, amidst a desk full of general Trade Symposium follow-up, she dedicated time to the upcoming Annual Conference. With 2018 just around the corner, the Annual Conference will be here in the blink of an eye.

Beginning January 1, under the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP), importers are required to electronically submit detailed data elements for 11 species of seafood and seafood-containing food products, including: where the fish was caught, the type of net used, the name of the vessel, where the fish was off-loaded, the weight of the fish when it was off-loaded, the name of the processor, among other details.

Earlier this Fall, all those designated as the primary contact to represent their company for the NCBFAA received a notice requesting them to confirm the accuracy of their corporate information in the NCBFAA databases. For those who have already responded, thank you; all others are encouraged to please take a few minutes to use the access credentials included in that email communication to review, and if necessary to update, your company's information

CBP's recent East Coast Trade Symposium was a valuable opportunity for Customs and the trade to come together and share insights and ideas about the future of trade and trade regulation. NCBFAA President Geoff Powell was honored to be invited to participate in the first full session of the Symposium with a one-on-one interview with CBP Acting Commissioner Kevin McAleenan. Powell's questions included inquiries into the future direction of CBP's policy and focus, what keeps the Commissioner up at night, and the future of cargo and e-commerce management. The Commissioner's replies were insightful, in no way "needlessly verbose" and showed the attendees we are indeed lucky to have such an engaged and dynamic leader at CBP. The Commissioner let the audience know that CBP is focused on their 2020 strategy and looking beyond the next budget cycle to make a long-term plan for the agency that incorporates security, safety, compliance and the PGAs in a streamlined, meaningful and relevant way.

With year-end fast approaching and the holidays here, what better gift to share with someone (or yourself) than registering for the 2018 NCBFAA Annual Conference in beautiful Rancho Mirage, CA!

NCBFAA is encouraging our members to prepare for this transition in several ways. First, please consider working with your clients to move your entry filing dates up as much as possible to minimize the number of transactions CBP is processing in ACE over the deployment weekend. Please minimize the number entries, if possible, on the daily statements in order to control the environment as much as possible. We suggest you consider moving your statements that are due to be paid during the deployment week up early to avoid any miscues and non-payment. We also encourage you to reach out to your client rep to make sure they will be in the office during the deployment, and find out what your contingency plan should be if they will not be there. Find your best channel of communication with CBP ahead of the deployment so you will have the best chance of success in resolving an issue should one occur during the drop. We also recommend that you reach out to your software vendors to discuss their plans and how you can be the best partner possible for them during this deployment. Again, find a good communication channel with your vendor before the deployment so you won't have to spend precious time just trying to find the right person to speak with. Finally, you may consider sending a communication similar to the following to your clients:

With the tax bill occupying center stage next week, there is little chance that deadlines for spending and trade can be met by the end of the week, which also will be the end of the First Session of the 115th Congress.

CBP has activated its site for licensed brokers to pay their 2018 Customs Broker Triennial fees online and to file their Status Report. This is the preferred method to pay these triennial fees, which are due by February 1, 2018, at 11:59 p.m. EST. At this time, only triennial fees can be paid using this method. Brokers with a National and/or Local permit will need to submit payments to the Ports where these permits were issued.