This past week, NCBFAA President Geoffrey Powell attended WESCCON. He was on a panel with Victor Gamas from CAAAREM in Mexico, Kim Campbell from CSCB in Canada, Tom Gould from STR Trade Advisory Services, and Celeste Catano from BluJay to discuss NAFTA and North American Single Window. He participated in the Strategic Planning call with the Board Members, Officers, and Committee Chairs as well as outside counsel. On Thursday of last week, he attended a meeting in Charlotte at the International Freight Forwarders and Customs Brokers Association of Charlotte and had the opportunity to update the members on issues the NCBFAA was working on their behalf.

On a phone call late Thursday afternoon that included NCBFAA leadership, CBP delivered a checklist that should be helpful in preparing for the upcoming deployments. Covering Statements, MID "Add", Reconciliation, Drawback and FTZ e-14, this checklist has been supplied by the CBP Client Representative Division. We hope that our members find this information valuable, along with last week's CSMS messages that work to move trade forward as we plan for the December 9th and February 28th ACE Schedule G deployments.

Barring Congressional action, the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), special program indicator (SPI) "A," "A+" and "A*" will expire for goods entered or withdrawn from warehouse after midnight, December 31, 2017.

To ready the trade for the upcoming December 9, 2017 update to ACE, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released a notice on the upcoming deployment of Statements, e214 (electronic Foreign Trade Zone admission), and Manufacturer ID Creation capabilities.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection have released their ACE Trade Update for October. In this issue, you will find information on the latest news on ACE, ACE Portal and Resource Reminders, Tips and Frequently Asked Questions.

Last week, NCBFAA President Geoff Powell lead a call focused on the overlapping needs of the software vendors and brokerage community in conjunction with the upcoming 12/9 ACE release. The NCBFAA is assisting in coordinated communication with CBP to ensure that the trade's development and deployment timeline is agreed to and adhered to. He continued to follow-up on this issue while at WESSCON.

Effective October 12, 2017, the U.S. will formally revoke the country-based sanctions on Sudan, including all of the prohibitions set forth in the Sudanese Sanctions Regulations ("SSR"), 31 CFR Part 538, and all of the Specially Designated National ("SDN") designations. Accordingly, an OFAC general or specific license will no longer be required for U.S. persons to engage in transactions related to Sudan, unless the transaction is prohibited by a separate sanctions program. Persons and property blocked pursuant to the Sudan sanctions program, including the Government of Sudan, will be unblocked.

The U.S. unveiled highly controversial proposals at the 4th round of NAFTA negotiations, including a proposal to up the North American content on automobiles to 85 percent from the current 62.5 percent and with an added requirement for 50 percent U.S. content. This, along with another proposal to sunset NAFTA after five years unless the three countries agree to renew it, met with strong resistance from Mexico and Canada. The extreme U.S. proposals have many wondering about the fate of NAFTA. With this in mind, we have looked at some of the key issues surrounding a potential U.S. withdrawal from NAFTA. Can the President invoke the withdrawal provision without Congressional approval? If the U.S. withdraws from NAFTA, does the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement take effect again? For a discussion of these issues, see the paper here.

Importers are increasingly concerned over the potential impact of N. Korean sanctions on imported products from China or elsewhere. A broad sanctions bill (HR 3364) was signed into U.S. law in early August. It includes criminal penalties against any person importing products made in whole or in part by N. Korean labor! It also includes potential sanctions for any individual who purchases such products made from North Korean labor -- even if the workers are in another country legally.

The FDA's Division of West Coast Imports (DWCI) has supplied the trade with detailed guidance when communicating through electronic programs. The document addresses entry reviews, compliance reviews, and message formatting, among other things.

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.