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News

CBP’s Bersin resigns

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

US Customs & Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin has resigned his post, effective December 31.

As reported in our blog post of September 28, Bersin was named to his position in a recess appointment by President Obama nearly 2 years ago, raising the ire of the Senate Finance Committee who sought to interrogate him about possible violation of immigration laws regarding hired household help.

Now that the Senate has adjourned without confirming his appointment, Bersin has resigned from the post in advance of its expiration at year end.

Overall, the trade was quite satisfied with the progress that Bersin made in helping to streamline the agency and facilitate trade with modernization efforts.

Deputy Commission David Aguilar will serve as Acting Commissioner.

Posted in Customs & Border Protection, General, News | Add Comment »

Country of origin – how the Chinese honey industry flouted the rules

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

As recently reported on National Public Radio, members of the US honey industry have taken major steps to prevent the importation into this country of Chinese honey purportedly from other countries.

In response to anti-dumping concerns, in 2008 the United States imposed significant duties on Chinese honey. Almost immediately, shipments of Chinese honey ceased, while imports of honey from China’s neighbors, such as Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia – with no commercial beekeeping history – increased markedly.

Scientific analysis of that honey revealed an absence of pollen present in those countries, but typical of pollen found in China, leading to charges of false labeling and fraud.

Now, with an sudden surge in honey imports from India, another Chinese neighbor, some members of the US honey industry have established True Source Honey, LLC, an organization that certifies foreign honey as authentically from the stated country of origin through audits, lab analysis and random inspection of honey producers.

Read or listen to NPR’s story, “Funny honey? Bringing Trust to a Sector Full of Suspicion.”

Posted in General, News, Priority Trade Issues (PTI) | Add Comment »

Ready for the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act?

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

On January 1, 2012, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 takes effect. The new law mandates that retailers and manufacturers 1) with global sales exceeding $100 million, and 2) that do business in California (broadly defined) to disclose on their websites the steps taken to prevent slavery and human trafficking in their supply chain.

Because the law is broadly drafted and somewhat vague, those businesses that may be subject to the Act’s requirements should consult with legal counsel to determine applicability. In addition, suppliers to covered retailers and manufactures that are asked to certify their operation should also evaluate their obligations and responsibilities under the law.

For more information on the Act, check out the law firm of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp’s International Trade Alert on this topic.

Posted in General, News | Add Comment »

ISF progress reports – how to access

Monday, November 28th, 2011

US Customs has announced that it will no longer be emailing ISF Progress Reports after the December 2011 reports. Rather, recipients can continue to access the reports through the ACE Secure Data Portal.

The full notice, which can be found here, includes a link to set up a free ACE Portal Account.

Posted in ACE (Automated Commercial Environment), ISF, News | Add Comment »

How shippers can weather predicted trucking shortage

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

As recently reported in American Shipper, analysts and trucking executives are predicting an alarming commercial truck scarcity in the US in 2012. Currently, capacity is extremely tight, and if the economy improves, the situation will worsen.

The main factors that are leading to the looming crisis are a shortage in both equipment and drivers. As for equipment, the trucking industry has significantly reduced its fleets since the global economic downturn began in 2007 by selling used tractors and deferring purchase of new equipment. In addition, many small trucking companies went out of business.

With regard to drivers, more than 13 percent left the workforce left since 2007, and there are fewer younger drivers entering the market to replace older workers. Factors such as new federal hours-of-service rules inhibit hiring, leaving a current driver deficit of 125,000.

Astute shippers can take steps to mitigate problems caused by the shortage:

Strengthen relationship with key carriers (give consistent business, accept fair rates, reduce dock-wait times, pay invoices early) to increase priority during busy shipping times.
Create more consistent shipping patterns and share demand forecasts so carriers may deploy their trucks and drivers more efficiently.
Secure dedicated contract carriage (set asides of certain number of vehicles or drivers).
Use the spot market where rates and terms are better than contract rates.
Increase size of private fleet, and sell empty space in trailers on return trips.
Work with a truck broker for flexibility in last minute scheduling.
Adjust production schedules to produce loads when carriers have extra seasonal capacity.

The full article, “Where did all the trucks go?,” is available here.

Posted in General, News | Add Comment »

Merchandise fee for processing entries increases

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

On Friday, October 21, 2011, H.R. 2832 became law. The main purpose of the statute is to extend the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), which expired on December 31, 2010, through July 31, 2013. However, to offset the estimated cost of lost tariffs associated with expanding the GSP benefits, H.R. 2832 increases US Customs’ merchandise fee for processing entries (Class Code 499) from 0.21% to 0.3464%.

Currently, Customs is modifying the Automated Broker Interface to accept the new rate, which will apply to entries filed via ACS and ACE between October 1, 2011 and June 30, 2014. CBP has indicated that it will provide the trade with one week’s notice before it is able to accept the new MPF rate.

Customs’ official notice regarding the rate increase can be found here.

Posted in ABI (Automated Brokerage Interface), ACE (Automated Commercial Environment), Customs & Border Protection, News | 1 Comment »

Port of LA: “The traditional peak season has not materialized”

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

Officials at the bellwether Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are bemoaning the apparent lack of a peak season. According to the Los Angeles Times, port representatives have indicated that the annual “surge in holiday cargo headed to retailers’ shelves, which usually begins in August, is still nowhere to be seen.”

Both ports reported an unexpected decrease in cargo traffic and imports in September, and attribute it, not surprisingly, to a weakened world economic recovery and the continued threat of a double dip recession.

The full article, “Cargo surge takes a holiday at L.A., Long Beach ports,” is available here.

Posted in News | 1 Comment »

Highlights from the Trade Support Network (TSN) plenary session

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

The Trade Support Network (TSN), a group of trade representatives who provide input to US Customs for the design and development of modernization projects, such as ACE, met in Arlington, VA, for its plenary session last month. Following is a summary of the highlights of the meetings.

Overall Message

In the current economic state, TSN’s priority is to help US Customs drive down costs for both importers and CBP, such as less exams of cargo and simplified entry processing. CBP is under significant pressure from Congress to get ACE up-and-running in order to receive funding to complete the project. Customs must show that entries are being filed in ACE and parts of ACS are being turned off.

Agency Structure

Cindy Allen, formerly with the trade, joined CBP around 1 year ago and is in charge (Exec. Director, ACE Business Office, OIT). She is doing a fantastic job of getting ACE back on track and has a great understanding of how it’s going to work. She has a new boss in Allen Gina, a 29 year veteran of CBP, and a new Exec. Director, Cargo Systems and Program Office, OIT, in LindaJacksta. Rich DiNucci, who headed up 10+2, is also on the team now.

Post Summary Corrections

As reported in this blog on September 20, PSC functionality was delivered June 4, and it became mandatory to file PSCs instead ofPEAs effective last month. PSCs may be filed 270 calendar days from date of entry, but cannot be filed within 20 calendar days of the scheduled liquidation date. Filers can request “accelerated liquidation” to get a quick bill/refund but then will forfeit an opportunity to file another PSC. It’s a full-replace of the entry and CBP will maintain all versions of entries. Importers should ensure that their ABI applications also keep versions of the entry before filing PSCs in order to keep an adequate record of their transactions with CBP.

Additionally, when the PSC is filed, the entry goes into “customs status” and CBP will remove the scheduled liquidation date. Currently filers can query the entry to get some insight as to the status, but long term there will be a UC message to all filers associated with the entry detailing the status and new liquidation information. Most PSC’s filed to date (around 100) were a “pass through” meaning they did not require CBP involvement. Note to brokers: You should review your powers of attorney to make sure your clients haven’t limited your ability to file PSCs.

Cargo Release

For this project, there is a new approach to requirement gathering – A Concept of Operations (CONOPS) has been created and all requirements mapped back to the CONOPS. Currently they are detailing the system requirement, with input from the trade and CBP field offices. These functional requirements, and the functional decomposition should be completed by June 2012. The goal is to deploy a subset of functionality within the next 18 months (then turn off selectivity in ACS)

E-Manifest: Rail & Sea

Allows holds to be placed/removed at the conveyance, container, master bill level as well as the house bill of lading level. CBP will provide brokers with a “broker download” to assist in populating the entry header. Nine early adopters will begin filing their manifest in this new system in the coming weeks in 3 ports. ETA for full deployment is January 2012, then CBP will begin decommissioning AMS in ACE. This will enable true visibility on which PGA has held merchandise and the reason for the hold.

ACE Technical Discussion (Linda Jacksta)

Remaining In-Scope: E-Manifest, Cargo Processing and release, Remaining Entry Types, Collections (lots of emphasis), and Exports. Trying to leverage existing functionality with ACE or any other federal agency systems.

Entry Simplification

See our blog post of October 4 for details.

PGA Panel Discussion

FDA is replacing OASIS with MARCS at the end of this year. A component of MARCS is PREDICT which allows FDA to automatically validate AoC qualifiers. No more AoC codes will be required in ACE as they will be mapped based on the field definition. Filers will have better visibility to the status and can receive their Notice of Sampling via the system.

Posted in ABI (Automated Brokerage Interface), ACE (Automated Commercial Environment), Customs & Border Protection, FDA, News, Simplified Entry, e-Manifest | Add Comment »

Simplified entry process pilot expected soon

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

US Customs said last week that it has made great strides towards establishing a simplified entry process. After having worked closely on this issue with the Trade Support Network, a group representing the trade, CBP said to expect a Federal Register notice soon to announce a trial program and solicit participants.

The simplified entry is designed to reduce the number of documentation requirements on the entry, which will streamline the process and reduce costs for both importers and Customs. The majority of the ISF data elements, but not all, will be required fields. It will also include additional data elements, such as 10-digit HTS code, estimated value, and an entry number; however, importers will no longer need to be concerned with including the manifest quantity.

Simplified entries will be available for ocean, air, rail, and truck shipments. Importers must be in Tier 2 or Tier 3 of the C-TPAT program, file their simplified entries in ACE, and meet a few other requirements to avail themselves of the new program.

More details on the simplified entry program are available in the American Shipper article, “CBP makes headway on simplified entry,” available here. (site registration required for access to entire article). In addition, Customs has provided additional information in the “Simplified Processes Fact Sheet,” which is posted on AAEI’s website.

Posted in ABI (Automated Brokerage Interface), ACE (Automated Commercial Environment), Customs & Border Protection, News, Simplified Entry | 3 Comments »

CBP’s Bersin may exit by year’s end

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

American Shipper reports that US Customs & Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin may soon be out of a job.

President Obama installed Bersin as a recess appointment in March 2010, much to the chagrin of the Senate Finance Committee, who wanted to question Bersin about possible violation of immigration laws in hiring household help. Without Senate confirmation of his recess appointment expected by year end, the position will become vacant.

Despite the hard feelings on Capitol Hill, Bersin remains popular with the trade. He is viewed as a progressive, take-charge leader who exerted “significant effort to reorient CBP’s priorities towards trade facilitation and enforcement after a decade focusing on security measures that complicated the movement of cargo.”

Bersin’s staff has indicated that they will continue the forward progress started by Bersin.

The American Shipper article, “Popular Customs chief to lose post,” is available here. (site registration required for access to entire article).

Posted in Customs & Border Protection, General, News | 1 Comment »