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.

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.

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.