Monday Morning eBriefing

NCBFAA President Geoff Powell had a very busy week. Early last week, he attended the Global Trade Educational Conference (GTEC) in Long Beach, CA. While in California, he met with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information, the Department of Commerce and the International Trade Administration, among others, at the Port of L.A. to discuss productivity and data visibility at the port.

NCBFAA, the Airforwarders Association's (AfA), and indirect air carriers (Admiral Air Express, Inc. d/b/a ALG Admiral, Inc., Commodity Forwarders, Inc., Hassett Express LLC) recently petitioned the TSA to reconsider changes made to certain provisions concerning training in proposed Change 6 to the Indirect Air Carrier Standard Security Program. TSA has listened to our concerns and has indicated today that it itends to shortly release updated training materials which IACs can use to be in compliance with their obligations under Change 6.

On August 3, 2017, the Department of Commerce announced the initiation of antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of imports of cast iron soil pipe fittings from China. The items covered by these investigations are cast iron soil pipe fittings, finished and unfinished, regardless of industry or proprietary specifications, and regardless of size. Cast iron soil pipe fittings are nonmalleable iron castings of various designs and sizes, including, but not limited to, bends, tees, wyes, traps, drains, and other common or special fittings, with or without side inlets.

The United States International Trade Commission (USITC), in an August 3 release, has determined that a U.S. industry is materially injured by reason of imports of emulsion styrene-butadiene rubber from Brazil, Korea, Mexico, and Poland that the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) has determined are sold in the United States at less than fair value.

On December 2, 2015, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) published their final rule "Mandatory Inspection of Fish of the order Siluriformes and Products Rerived from Such Fish" (80 FR 75590) that established a mandatory inspection program for fish of the order of Siluriformes and for products derived from these fish, including imported fish products. Starting August 2, all imported shipments of Siluriformes fish/fish products are required to be presented for reinspection by FSIS. A list of the official import inspection establishments that handle Siluriformes can be found here. Please note, not all meat inspection facilities can handle this. It needs to be in your Grant of Inspection.

On Wednesday and Friday of last week, ACE system outages left users scrambling to access the ACE portal, process incoming trade messages and generate responses. CBP recently shared their uniform national procedures for the processing and release of commercial cargo during periods of time when the ACE Cargo Release system is unavailable to process cargo. Though not all inclusive, these guidelines should be considered to efficiently facilitate the secure movement of legitimate trade during computer system downtimes.

While we have seen the amount of solicitations decrease precipitously in the last month, some members have reported receiving unwanted emails from a select few email addresses. We are continuing our investigation into the cause of these emails and we'd ask people take additional steps to protect themselves against solicitations and attacks.

NAFTA renegotiation suddenly became very real this week, with the formal release of the Administration's negotiating objectives and a House Ways and Means hearing to focus attention on the upcoming talks which are scheduled to begin August 16. The first round will be held in Washington, DC. Within the trade community, the U.S. Trade Representative's Negotiating Objectives document was greeted with a sigh of relief.

FMC Commissioner Rebecca Dye launched the second phase of the agency's Supply Chain Innovation Teams initiative. Phase two will focus on identifying the "actionable" information needed by supply chain actors for improved supply chain system visibility, reliability and resilience.

Scheduled for shutdown in the wake of the July 8 primary deployment of core trade processing capabilities in ACE, CBP's ABI Query for Foreign Currency Rates service got a reprieve when CBP postponed the ACE deployment last week. This is welcome news to the trade as numerous industry voices had sought continuation of the service, which provides daily foreign currency exchange rate information in easily downloadable EXCEL and PDF formats. However, it is unclear how long the service will remain available.

NCBFAA responded to a request for comments from the US Trade Representative on the upcoming NAFTA renegotiation, focusing on such association priorities as duty drawback. NAFTA Article 303 places restrictions on the use of drawback. "Duty drawback is a valuable export promotion program," wrote NCBFAA President Geoff Powell. "Goods exported to Mexico and Canada from other countries with which Mexico and Canada have FTAs receive better treatment...than do U.S. U.S. exporters, creating an unfair playing field for U.S. manufacturers, exporters and workers."

During a recent discussion of broker audits with the New York brokerage community, CBP's Regulatory Audit advised that, going forward, their office would conduct more "survey," rather than "full," broker audits. In the past, the Regulatory Audit Office would conduct months-long, in-depth audits of selected brokers, examining all aspects of the brokerage's business. Relatively few brokers were chosen each year for full audits.

It is with great sadness that the NCBFAA announces the passing of Suzanne (Powell) Pickard, sister of NCBFAA President Geoff Powell and daughter of former President and Senior Counselor Peter Powell, both of C.H. Powell Co. Her full obituary can be read here.

An article in the May 15 edition of the Monday Morning eBriefing described CBP CEE's interim plan for distributing courtesy copies of Forms 28 and 29 to customs brokers until an automated channel becomes available. However, the description noted that the documents would be attached to emails sent to the broker contact listed in importer's ACE portal account.

In a letter to NCBFAA President Geoffrey Powell, Census Bureau Chief, International Trade Management Division, Dale Kelly itemized the agency's response to the NCBFAA's comments on proposed amendments to reflect new export reporting requirements related to the implementation of the ITDS. Ms. Kelley noted that a number of the Association's concerns had been addressed in the final rule, which takes effect July 18. During its meeting on June 24 in St. Louis, MO, the NCBFAA Transportation Committee will address the final rule and its implications for the trade.

The Senate voted 82-14 to confirm Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative on Thursday. Mr. Lighthizer won the support of most Republicans and Democrats. Republican lawmakers pointed to his extensive knowledge and experience on trade, knowing he will bring a needed seriousness to trade matters in an Administration that is still trying to find its footing. Many Democrats cheer his tough stance on trade.

Members have reported receiving emails containing this language from NCBFAA staff: Your report is attached in DOC format. Attachment: [An active url will be displayed here] This e-mail was sent by [name of NCBFAA staffer displayed here]

NCBFAA members have been hearing a lot about the new Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP). This complex new regulation will take effect soon. To help you understand a customs broker's role, NCBFAA provides the following answers to frequently asked questions.