NCBFAA President Geoff Powell and NEI Executive Director Kiko Zuniga recently attended the ASAPRA meeting in Cartagena, Colombia. Todd Owen, Executive Assistant Commissioner, Office of Field Operations, addressed the group and then spent some time talking to both on a number of issues. At the 2017 Government Affairs Conference, Alfonso Rojas, the President of ASAPRA, addressed the attendees on the important work of ASAPRA in central, South America and North America. ASAPRA now has been appointed to the Private Sector Consultative Group (PSCG) at the World Customs Organization (WCO), an additional path for the NCBFAA to be present and represented at the WCO. Mr. Powell, as well as Rich Roche and Kristine Little, attended the FMC Sunshine meeting. At the meeting, Mr. Powell was able to speak with all the Commissioners and the Chairman on a variety of topics. They thanked Commissioner Dye and Acting Chairman Khouri for their great work in moving this NPRM forward. As Commissioner Dye and Acting Chairman Khouri said, the NPRM is a very positive step in the right direction, but we are not finished with deregulation to bring greater efficiencies to the supply chain.

NCBFAA President Geoff Powell urged Congressional trade leaders to renew GSP before it expires on December 31, 2017. The letter to House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committee leaders pointed out to lawmakers that, if the GSP program is allowed to lapse, "companies will face an estimated $75 million in duties on imports from GSP countries each and every month until the program is renewed!"

On December 9, ACE will become the only CBP-authorized EDI system for generating, transmitting, and updating daily and monthly statements for all entries except reconciliation (type 09) entries and the ACS will be decommissioned for such purposes. However, until reconciliation entries are filed in ACE, statements for reconciliation entries will continue to use ACS.

FDA recently issued a memo addressing Division of West Coast Imports communication and a factsheet providing a status update on the new ITACS functionality. The Division of West Coast Imports new communication directive outlines the correct format that parties must follow when contacting West coast ports through a central e-mail address.

The FMC invites comments on its recently released Initial Draft Strategic Plan for FY 2018-2022 (draft Plan). Comments on the Commission's draft Plan must be submitted on or before December 6, 2017.

President Geoff Powell announced that NCBFAA has joined the U.S. Global Value Chain Coalition -- a newly formed coalition of companies and trade associations whose mission is to educate policymakers and the public about the American jobs and economic benefits generated by companies in the global supply chain.

BIS along with the Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Department of State are taking coordinated steps to implement portions of the National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba. Included in these actions is a BIS rule to amend the licensing policy for Cuba and portions of three license exceptions available for exports and reexports to Cuba: License Exceptions Gift Parcels and Humanitarian Donations, Consumer Communications Devices, and Support for the Cuban People.

The House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee introduced a long-anticipated Miscellaneous Tariff Bill (MTB) containing more than 1800 duty suspensions or duty reductions. The bill is a bipartisan, bicameral effort which follows a year long administrative process at the International Trade Commission to review petitions from companies.

In April 2015, the NCBFAA filed a petition with the Federal Maritime Commission requesting that the FMC initiate a rulemaking to further deregulate NVOCC rate tariffs. As you know, in addition to publishing rates in tariff form, the FMC has previously issued two exemptions for the benefit of NVOCCs. The first exemption was called NVOCC Service Arrangements ("NSAs"), which permitted NVOs to enter into private confidential contracts with their customers in a manner that is akin to service contracts that VOCCs enter into with their shipper customers. That exemption required that these NSAs be treated exactly like service contracts from a regulatory perspective, so that NVOCCs using them had to both file a copy of the contract with the FMC and publish their essential terms in a rate tariff. The second exemption pertained to NVOCC rate arrangements ("NRAs"), which permitted NVOCCs to avoid having to publish rate tariffs at all. Instead, NVOs were permitted provide their customers with rate quotations and, assuming the customers accepted, the traffic could move on that basis without having to memorialize the rates in rate tariff form. However, the NRA exemption also had disadvantages, in that: (1) the NRA could not be amended, (2) shippers were required to sign them, and (3) they could not properly include other economic terms such as commitments to ship specified volumes, liquidated damages, credit terms, etc.

On October 25, CBP administered the inaugural electronic version of its Customs Broker Licensing Exam and many applicants were subjected to unsatisfactory testing conditions. As news of the examination difficulties arose, the NCBFAA requested members provide feedback to both CBP and NCBFAA with their experiences. Difficulties test takers faced included:

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has provided guidance for the additional duties on U.S. imports of Brazilian products that are subject to the July 30 Executive Order (EO), “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Brazil,” and will become effective at 12:01 a.m. ET on Aug. 6.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., are reviewing the details of the numerous reciprocal tariffs that took effect Aug. 1, the new 35% Canadian product tariff, the Section 232 import duties on copper and copper derivative products, and the end to de minimis for commercial shipments effective on Aug. 29. The Committee will report any ongoing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance related to these White House actions to our customs broker members as soon as it’s released by the agency.

Recognizing the rapid and unexpected increase in duties, customs brokers and warehouse proprietors increasingly are encountering situations of unclaimed, rejected, and abandoned cargo. In response, the NCBFAA Customs Committee, Transportation Committee, Committee Counsel, and Leadership have collaboratively developed a guidance document to assist NCBFAA Regular Members to address the recurring questions regarding this cargo and to clarify the rights of the transacting parties, as well as service providers.

The Vanguard Pest Control treatment provider informed the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) that it will discontinue phytosanitary fumigations and close its treatment facility at the Newark, New Jersey, location at the end of July. APHIS provided guidance to the trade.

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

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has provided guidance for the additional duties on U.S. imports of Brazilian products that are subject to the July 30 Executive Order (EO), “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Brazil,” and will become effective at 12:01 a.m. ET on Aug. 6.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., are reviewing the details of the numerous reciprocal tariffs that took effect Aug. 1, the new 35% Canadian product tariff, the Section 232 import duties on copper and copper derivative products, and the end to de minimis for commercial shipments effective on Aug. 29. The Committee will report any ongoing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance related to these White House actions to our customs broker members as soon as it’s released by the agency.

Recognizing the rapid and unexpected increase in duties, customs brokers and warehouse proprietors increasingly are encountering situations of unclaimed, rejected, and abandoned cargo. In response, the NCBFAA Customs Committee, Transportation Committee, Committee Counsel, and Leadership have collaboratively developed a guidance document to assist NCBFAA Regular Members to address the recurring questions regarding this cargo and to clarify the rights of the transacting parties, as well as service providers.

The Vanguard Pest Control treatment provider informed the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) that it will discontinue phytosanitary fumigations and close its treatment facility at the Newark, New Jersey, location at the end of July. APHIS provided guidance to the trade.

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) has provided guidance for the additional duties on U.S. imports of Brazilian products that are subject to the July 30 Executive Order (EO), “Addressing Threats to the United States by the Government of Brazil,” and will become effective at 12:01 a.m. ET on Aug. 6.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., are reviewing the details of the numerous reciprocal tariffs that took effect Aug. 1, the new 35% Canadian product tariff, the Section 232 import duties on copper and copper derivative products, and the end to de minimis for commercial shipments effective on Aug. 29. The Committee will report any ongoing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) guidance related to these White House actions to our customs broker members as soon as it’s released by the agency.

Recognizing the rapid and unexpected increase in duties, customs brokers and warehouse proprietors increasingly are encountering situations of unclaimed, rejected, and abandoned cargo. In response, the NCBFAA Customs Committee, Transportation Committee, Committee Counsel, and Leadership have collaboratively developed a guidance document to assist NCBFAA Regular Members to address the recurring questions regarding this cargo and to clarify the rights of the transacting parties, as well as service providers.

The Vanguard Pest Control treatment provider informed the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) that it will discontinue phytosanitary fumigations and close its treatment facility at the Newark, New Jersey, location at the end of July. APHIS provided guidance to the trade.

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