Monday Morning eBriefing

The USDA AMS National Organic Program (NOP) is providing a reminder to the trade about import filing requirements in ACE for organic entries and new organic HTS codes. On Feb. 13, the AMS tariff flag code for the following HTS codes will change from AM7 (may File) to AM8 (must file) – with reject severity. NOP said it is also encountering two common errors with trade submitted import filing data in ACE for organic shipments.

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Dec. 18 issued a routine notice, called “ACIR and PPQ Manuals Updates Stakeholder Digest #2025-42.” This notice contained one seemingly innocuous change involving "Pests." The trade may not realize the practical implications of this change. It impacts shipments of active yeast — used in breads, wine and beer.

The NCBFAA Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) thanks all members who completed the recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) survey regarding National Entry Review (NER). Since conducting this survey, FDA has renamed NER to ImportShield or FISP (FDA ImportShield Program), but it is essentially the same program with a new name.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Feb. 3 provided a message to the trade regarding the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) Import Restrictions and Certification of Admissibility requirements which took effect Jan. 1.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Feb. 6 released a new standard report in ACE Reports for users with an importer or customs broker role to identify entries that were filed with an offset license number for an import adjustment offset applicable to Section 232 duties on automobile parts.

The Census Bureau has updated the Schedule B, Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS), and HTS Codes that are not valid for the Automated Export System (AES) to reflect the changes made to the Feb. 1, 2026, codes.

A summary of the latest legislative and regulatory transport, logistics and trade sector updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Transportation Counsel firm Venable.

Registration for the 2026 NCBFAA Annual Conference at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, on April 12-15, is now closed! If you were unfortunately not able to attend the NCBFAA Annual Conference this year, we encourage you to consider registering for the NEI’s 2026 Global Trade Educational (GTE) Conference on July 26-28 in St. Louis. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you at the next year’s Annual Conference at the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, on April 11-14, 2027, but we strongly encourage you to register when we open registration for this event in October 2026 since we anticipate selling out early once again.

FDA is seeking new legislative authority in 2026 with a focus on proposals covering imported medical devices, destruction of refused products, supply chain information for drug labels, and annual reports from manufacturers with details on their drug supply chains.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) outlined their Human Foods Program 2026 Priority Deliverables in late January. Included are the following goals relating to imported food safety. Note the emphasis on imported seafood, particularly shrimp.

The NCBFAA Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) met with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss customs broker concerns over import processing delays following the launch of ImportShield (formerly called National Entry Review) in August. The agency explained that the recent announcement of ImportShield was simply a name change, replacing the previous name of NER.

A summary of the latest customs and cross-border trade regulatory updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Customs Counsel firm Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) notified the trade on Feb. 4 of an updated ACE Cargo Release CATAIR document which includes the SE15 Note 1 for the Air Master Bill of Lading and Deployment of the updated validation rule logic (rule 029).

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) on Feb. 4 announced the publication of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (2026) Revision 2. The HTS changes were approved by the Committee for Statistical Annotation of Tariff Schedules, better known as the 484(f) Committee, and took effect Feb. 1.

Customs and Border Protection has recently updated its chart for unstacking certain tariffs, with specific focus on semiconductors to reflect that IEEPA China tariffs do not stack.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome Anna Hebrowska dba AFIC, Apex Premier Brokerage, Open Waters Brokerage, Rope International Logistics, Tru Identity, and Selamawit Gebrehiywet dba Addis Global Trade Services which have recently joined our association. We're so excited to have these firms join our organization and we are happy to assist in any way we can!

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in a notice to the trade said registration for the April 22 Customs Broker License Exam (CBLE) will open Monday, Feb. 9, at 12:01 a.m. ET and close on Wednesday, March 11, at 4:30 p.m. ET. Registration links can be found on the Customs Brokers webpage of CBP.gov in the “Customs Broker License Exam Information” section.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to provide our customs broker members with pertinent details regarding the latest action by the Trump Administration to impose IEEPA tariffs on other countries’ products if they are shipping oil and related products to Cuba, as well as the reset of tariffs on imports of automobiles, lumber, pharmaceuticals, and “other” reciprocal tariffs for South Korea to 25% for failure to enact the July 30, 2025 trade deal reached between the two countries and the new Section 232 metals valuation court case. Meanwhile, the Committee will send our members additional Trump Administration tariff updates and subsequent Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance, as soon as received.

President Trump on Jan. 28 designated Laura DiBella to serve as Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC). Chairman DiBella was sworn in as a FMC Commissioner on Jan. 6, 2026. She was nominated by President Trump on Sept. 3, 2025, and confirmed by the Senate on Dec. 18, 2025, to serve a term that expires on June 30, 2028.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Trade Relations has provided useful resources for members who are preparing for the April 22 Customs Broker License Exam (CBLE).