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 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.

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.

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.

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.

In a letter to the Bureau of the Census, the NCBFAA has submitted comments on Census' Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding standard and routed export transactions.

The American economy relies upon an international supply chain that can be made more efficient and resilient through private sector initiatives such as the creation of a National Seaport Information Portal.

NCBFAA is encouraging our members to prepare for this transition in several ways. First, please 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(s). Please minimize the number entries, if possible, on the daily statements in order to control the environment as much as possible. We suggest you move your statements that are due to be paid during the deployment week up early to avoid any miscues and non-payment. Remember to alert your clients if you move their statement dates so they too can have the best information possible. 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:

New Federal Register Notice Published Concerning Statements in ACE - On Friday, December 8, 2017, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued CSMS # 17-000758 announcing the publication of a Federal Register Notice (FRN) communicating the delay of the transition of statement processing from the Automated Commercial System (ACS) to the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). Below is a hyperlink to the FRN Notice:

President Trump announced on Friday, Aug. 22, that his administration has initiated an investigation into furniture imports, with the possibility of imposing tariffs on these products later this year.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold its next Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., from 1-5 p.m. ET on Sept. 17. The meeting will be open to the public via webinar only, the agency said.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Aug. 21 updated its IEEPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clarify the unstacking provisions. Specifically, under “IEEPA Overarching,” see the question, “What are the current unstacking provisions?”

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to track the imposition of additional Section 232 tariffs on U.S. imports aluminum and steel derivatives, watch progress of the U.S. and European Union trade framework agreement announced on Aug. 21, and monitor the Canadian government’s commitment to end certain retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods by Sept. 1.

Customs and Border Protection said recent unannounced visits at Customs Bonded Facilities (CBF) have yielded numerous cases of violations. The agency reminds CBF operators of authorities that CBP Port Directors may exercise in cases of violations.

President Trump announced on Friday, Aug. 22, that his administration has initiated an investigation into furniture imports, with the possibility of imposing tariffs on these products later this year.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold its next Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., from 1-5 p.m. ET on Sept. 17. The meeting will be open to the public via webinar only, the agency said.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Aug. 21 updated its IEEPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clarify the unstacking provisions. Specifically, under “IEEPA Overarching,” see the question, “What are the current unstacking provisions?”

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to track the imposition of additional Section 232 tariffs on U.S. imports aluminum and steel derivatives, watch progress of the U.S. and European Union trade framework agreement announced on Aug. 21, and monitor the Canadian government’s commitment to end certain retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods by Sept. 1.

Customs and Border Protection said recent unannounced visits at Customs Bonded Facilities (CBF) have yielded numerous cases of violations. The agency reminds CBF operators of authorities that CBP Port Directors may exercise in cases of violations.

President Trump announced on Friday, Aug. 22, that his administration has initiated an investigation into furniture imports, with the possibility of imposing tariffs on these products later this year.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will hold its next Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) quarterly meeting in Washington, D.C., from 1-5 p.m. ET on Sept. 17. The meeting will be open to the public via webinar only, the agency said.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Aug. 21 updated its IEEPA Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to clarify the unstacking provisions. Specifically, under “IEEPA Overarching,” see the question, “What are the current unstacking provisions?”

The NCBFAA Customs Committee and Counsel of Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, P.A., will continue to track the imposition of additional Section 232 tariffs on U.S. imports aluminum and steel derivatives, watch progress of the U.S. and European Union trade framework agreement announced on Aug. 21, and monitor the Canadian government’s commitment to end certain retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods by Sept. 1.

Customs and Border Protection said recent unannounced visits at Customs Bonded Facilities (CBF) have yielded numerous cases of violations. The agency reminds CBF operators of authorities that CBP Port Directors may exercise in cases of violations.