Customs

Friday, May 11, 2012

   Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano has formally notified Congress that her department will postpone by two years the mandate that all inbound ocean containers be scanned for hidden nuclear weapons or other terror-related contraband at foreign ports by July 2012.    The 9/11 Recommendations Act that required the 100-percent inspections included authority for the secretary to waive the deadline under certain conditions.    In a May 2 letter to the House and Senate Homelan...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

   Axway, which develops cloud-based software, has announced Nathan Associates has picked the company’s business-to-business integration (B2Bi) service to run a single window pilot program.    The pilot is being put into place by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The goal of the single window is to reduce the time needed to process import and export documents, allowing businesses to operate more efficiently. ASEAN also said it expects the program to b...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

   As part of a multipronged effort to streamline compliance requirements, U.S. Customs and Border Protection will open two more industry-focused units aimed at centralizing the import process for trusted shippers, one for automotive and aerospace in Detroit and one for petroleum, natural gas and minerals in Houston.    Customs officials made the announcement Thursday in Long Beach, Calif., during the agency's annual Trade Symposium, which is being held on the West Coast for fir...

Thursday, May 10, 2012

   U.S. and European Union customs officials have finalized an agreement to treat qualified shippers in their respective supply chain security programs as equivalent to their own, but a wide range of technical details must still be worked out before low-risk companies can enjoy reduced fees and inspection levels for ocean freight.    Under the agreement signed last Friday, Customs and Border Protection will recognize voluntary participants in the EU's Authorized Ec...

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

   Retailers on Tuesday advised the House Committee on Natural Resources' subcommittee on fisheries, wildlife oceans and insular affairs that several significant compliance challenges have emerged from the 2008 Lacey Act Amendment that deserve attention from Congress.    The law requires importers to provide to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service details such as the genus, species and country of harvest for products that include wood m...

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

   The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) has voiced concern over a pending EU regulation that requires independent validation of agents involved in air cargo shipments to Europe.    The law is an amendment to the EU security regime for air cargo and mail and went into effect Feb 1. It requires an airline to validate agents in third-party countries on all shipments into Europe.    “Simply put, there seems to be a gap between the expected cap...

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

   Zepol Corp., a trade intelligence company based in Edina, Minn., has released its newest trade data tool, ComplianceIQ, to help U.S. importers comply with government import regulations.    The tool bridges multiple import-compliance datasets in a unified interface in hopes of bringing as much information to the customer as possible for specific Harmonized Tariff Schedule codes.    Zepol said users can view product classifications, search by binding rulings...

Thursday, April 26, 2012

   U.S. citizens applying to become customs brokers should be able to obtain their licenses in a quarter of the time it now takes once U.S. Customs completes a nationwide rollout of a new system for processing their applications.    Licenses are being approved in less than three months compared to the normal nine to 12 months under a pilot program underway at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare airport, Brenda Brockman Smith, the agenc...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

   The United States has intervened in a lawsuit against Toyo Ink Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Japan and three of its U.S. subsidiaries for knowingly misrepresenting the country of origin on import documents presented to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.    The suit alleges that Toyo misrepresented Japan and Mexico as the countries of origin for its colorant carbazole violet pigment No. 23 (CVP-23) imports to avoid paying U.S. antidumping a...

Friday, April 20, 2012

   The U.S. International Trade Commission on Thursday determined that imports of certain steel nails from the United Arab Emirates have materially injured the domestic steel nail industry.    The case was brought before the ITC by Mid Continent Nail Corp., one of nine remaining domestic steel nail manufacturers. The case alleged that unfairly low-priced steel nail imports from the UAE have materially injured the U.S. industry.    Prior to Thursday’s vote, the Commerce...

Thursday, April 19, 2012

   Stanley Okpara, who was arrested by U.K. Border Force officers as he attempted to collect £13,000 ($20,800) worth of drugs that arrived in a freight shipment from Nigeria through Manchester Airport, was sentenced to seven years in jail.    Okpara, a Sierra Leone national, attempted to smuggle peppers stuffed with cocaine in a set of 15 boxes that arrived from Nigeria via Istanbul, Turkey.    According to The Mirror and the Manchester Evening News , officials secured ...

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

   The White House announced Monday that the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement will take effect on May 15.    The announcement follows completion of work by the United States and Colombia to review each other’s laws and regulations related to the agreement's implementation, as well as Colombia’s steps to deal with labor rights. Before President Obama’s announcement, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk exchanged letters with government officials in Colombia in which each country c...

Thursday, April 12, 2012

   The U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has seized more than $896,000 in proceeds from the distribution of counterfeit sports apparel and jerseys sold online and seized seven domain names engaged in the sale of fake goods.     The investigation of the fraudulent sales is part of Operation In Our Sites, led by the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which targets online retailers of counterfeit goods. Since June 2010, 758 d...

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

   IES, which provides a suite of import and export services, announced that its entire Ocean AMS customer base will be moved from the Automated Commercial System (ACS) to the new Automated Commercial Environment (ACE), a commercial trade processing system developed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.    ACE is an attempt to create a single window approach for the United States where international traders electronically provide all information needed by federal agen...

Friday, April 06, 2012

  A report released this week by a committee of the Institute of Medicine  urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its overseas counterparts from the top industrialized nations to work together to help developing countries improve their regulatory systems for food and drug oversight.   The discovery of a counterfeit version of the cancer drug Avastin earlier this year further underscored the challenges for U.S. regulators as imports increasingly dominate the American mar...

Friday, April 06, 2012

   Customs and Border Protection has agreed to continue inspections at the Red Hook Container Terminal in Brooklyn through Jan. 8, 2017.    Customs has recently consolidated its examinations in the Port of New York and New Jersey.    Yesterday's announcement means cargo will not have to be trucked to sites in New Jersey or on Staten Island to undergo examination, but will be looked at in Brooklyn. There were concerns that trucking cargo to and from distant examination sites ...

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

By Eric Kulisch    U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday publicly released its strategic plan for securing air cargo by screening advanced data from carriers and forwarders.     A pilot program quickly initiated by the agency in conjunction with express carriers following the October 2010 Yemen printer-bomb plot, has pre-cleared 14 million transactions using shipment-related data to assess for anomalies prior to loading on a plane, Acting Deputy Commissioner Thom...

Monday, April 02, 2012

   Livingston International has finalized the acquisition of the customs and trade compliance services from J.P. Morgan Treasury & Securities Services, a business unit of JPMorgan Chase Bank.    Livingston president and CEO Peter Luit noted that the acquisition covers the operations and technology of the former Vastera business.    Adding in these customs and compliance solutions builds on Livigonston’s existing foundation of international trade services in the United S...

Monday, April 02, 2012

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Friday published program and registration details for its upcoming Trade Symposium , which is being held for the first time on the West Coast.    The event is May 10 at the Long Beach Convention Center.    CBP is also offering a fee-based Webcast for those unable to attend.    The agency will discuss its efforts to collaborate with industry on security and trade policy, consolidate some functions to make enforcement more co...

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

   The White House through presidential proclamation on Monday designated the Republic of South Sudan as a new beneficiary of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and suspended Argentina from eligibility in the trade program.    “The president’s designation of the Republic of South Sudan as a GSP beneficiary country provides an opportunity for this newly independent nation to use trade to boost its economic development and, we hope, will encourage it to continue needed economic...

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

   The U.S. International Trade Commission is seeking input for a newly initiated investigation on the effect of correcting the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement product-specific rules of origin.    The investigation, “Effect of Adding References to HS 6104.32 to Correct the U.S.-Korea Product-Specific Rules of Origin,” was requested by the U.S. Trade Representative in a letter received by the ITC on March 22.    As requested, the ITC will provide advice on the probable ...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

   A Commerce Department investigation on Tuesday determined China subsidizes its exports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, and said U.S. imports of these products should be subject to countervailing duties.    The countervailable subsidies in China range from 2.9 to 4.73 percent. According to Commerce, Wuxi Suntech Power Co. received a preliminary subsidy rate of 2.9 percent, while Changzhou Trina Solar Energy Co. obtained a subsidy rate of 4.73 percent. All other...

Friday, March 16, 2012

   The U.S. Commerce Department has approved the Port of San Francisco’s request to reorganize its Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ) #3 under the Alternative Site Framework (ASF) program, a process that requires less paperwork and modernizes the process for businesses to apply for the zone.    The ASF is part of a new rule that allows companies to secure FTZ status in about 30 days after the acceptance of their application. The rule applies to new and existing companie...

Friday, March 09, 2012

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Thursday it will hold its first Trade Symposium event this year on May 10 at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, Calif.     The annual event has taken place in Washington each of the past 11 years, but CBP officials decided to add a second Trade Symposium on the West Coast to reduce the cost and inconvenience for members of the trade community in that part of the country. CBP plans to hold the East Coast version of...

Thursday, March 08, 2012

   The Obama administration on Wednesday opened two inter-agency fusion centers to coordinate how the U.S. government administers the system for controlling exports of products with military or dual military and civilian applications.     The reorganization is part of President Obama's two-year initiative to reform antiquated licensing procedures so U.S. companies can more easily sell technology and equipment to overseas buyers while enhancing the government's ability to mak...

Monday, March 05, 2012

    U.S. Customs and Border Protection is expected to release this month a draft strategic plan for taking its Air Cargo Advanced Screening system from a limited pilot program to a mandatory requirement that carriers pre-file information on all air shipments bound for the United States, according to industry representatives and government officials involved in the project.    Publication of the program blueprint comes as the security program prepares to enter its second phase, with s...

Monday, February 27, 2012

   Extending the re-validation cycle for companies in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism by a year will not adversely impact supply chain security, according to Shawn Beddows, the U.S. Customs official directly in charge of the program.       The Obama administration's budget plan for fiscal year 2013 calls for a $5 million reduction in C-TPAT spending, with the money diverted instead to pay for frontline inspection operations. Most of the savings are...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     The number of Industry Integration Centers for Excellence and Expertise within U.S. Customs devoted to centralizing the import process for trusted shippers could double to four this fiscal year, Acting Deputy Commissioner Thomas Winkowski recently said.    Customs and Border Protection last fall established two Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) - one in New York that deals with the pharmaceutical industry and one in Los Angeles responsible for electronics - as ...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

   The White House on Tuesday said the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement will enter into force on March 15.     The announcement followed the completion over the President’s Day weekend of work by the United States and South Korea to review each other’s laws and regulations related to the implementation of the agreement. The United States has exchanged diplomatic notes with South Korea in which each side confirmed that they had completed their legal requirements and proc...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make substantial changes to the way imported merchandise is transported inland under a bond, enabling the cargo owner to defer payment of duties until it reaches the destination port or is exported.     The primary fixes involve making the in-bond process electronic and tightening up procedures to better track merchandise and prevent diversion. In the past, CBP has...

Monday, February 20, 2012

     The U.S. honeybee population is safer today after U.S. Customs officers at the Port of Norfolk in Virginia recently intercepted a red mason bee hitchhiking in a container of household goods from the United Kingdom, the agency said.    It is the first known interception of the red mason bee, which is commonly found in the United Kingdom, and is not established in the United States. Inspectors found the insect within a rolled rug and called in agriculture specialists to ident...

Friday, February 17, 2012

   The U.S. Justice Department said Massoud Habibion, a U.S. citizen and co-owner of a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Online Micro LLC, pleaded guilty Thursday in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to illegally export computers from the United States to Iran through the United Arab Emirates.    Additionally, Mohsen Motamedian, 44, a U.S. citizen and co-owner of Online Micro, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.     At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Ellen S...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

     The U.S. Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism could evolve beyond a program focused on supply chain security to one that encompasses all types of threats associated with international trade, David Aguilar, acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, recently said.    Plans to widen the scope come as the program prepares to take a $5 million hit, according to the Obama administration's fiscal year 2013 budget proposal released this week.  &nbs...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

     The Obama administration's fiscal year 2013 budget for the Department of Homeland Security would cut net discretionary spending by $191 million, or 0.5 percent, below the 2012 enacted level to $39.5 billion.    The spending plan reflects fiscal realities that have led to belt-tightening across a wide section of government. Discretionary spending - the amount of the budget controlled by the annual budget process - represents only 30 percent of the federal government's outlay...

Monday, February 13, 2012

   U.S. Customs officers at Detroit Wayne County International Airport discovered wood-boring insects and evidence of their tunnels on 13 occasions in January while inspecting wood pallets and other packing material, the agency said.    Six inspections in late January resulted in the interception of eight live wood-boring insects. Customs said it refused to allow the wood packing material to enter the commercial stream.    Under international st...

Monday, February 13, 2012

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection said front-line personnel seized $51 million worth of counterfeit perfume at ports of entry in fiscal year 2011, ended Sept. 30.    Fake perfumes labeled with brand names cost the legitimate manufacturer lost sales and possible reputation if customers associate the inferior product with the company. Counterfeit perfumes also pose a potential health hazard because they are often contaminated with unknown chemicals.    The bor...

Friday, February 10, 2012

     California-based Seafood Solutions Inc. was sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles Monday to pay $1 million in fines and community service payments for its role in the false labeling of frozen fish fillets, according to the U.S. Justice Department.    The sentence stemmed from the company's conviction last July for trafficking in fish that had been transported and sold in violation of the Lacey Act, a conservation law that prohibits trade in wildlife, fish and plants tha...

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

     New regulations modernizing the in-bond transportation process that enables importers to defer entry and duty payment at the port of arrival until reaching another port are expected to be issued in the next few days, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Tuesday.    Homeland Security leaders and the Office of Management and Budget have signed off on the final rulemaking, Acting Deputy Commissioner Thomas Winkowski said during a lunch speech at the National ...

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to reduce a $15 million penalty assessed against a company that moved an oil rig part of the way on its voyage from the Gulf of Mexico to Cook’s Inlet in Alaska on a Chinese ship instead of on a U.S.-flagged Jones Act vessel.     The Jones Act requires cargo to be moved between U.S. ports on ships built and registered in the United States and crewed by Americans.    “It is the decision of the chi...

Monday, February 06, 2012

   Several environmental groups reported a shipment of 113 containers of toxic waste discovered last month at the Jakarta Tanjung Priok Port in Indonesia points up the continuing problem of hazardous waste being shipped to developing countries.    Indonesia Toxics-Free Network, the Basel Action Network, Ban Toxics, and BaliFokus urged all world governments to ratify the Basel Ban Amendment and enforce the Basel Convention  which seeks to control...

Friday, January 27, 2012

     The National Football League makes a lot of money from licensing merchandise with team logos and players names, but fans looking to save money can find plenty of counterfeit apparel.    Officers at U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been working during the football season to quell the trade of illegal merchandise.     The agency announced Thursday that it has impounded 304 parcels containing 10,710 fake NFL jerseys at Los Angeles International Airpo...

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

     The Obama administration on Wednesday unveiled its global supply chain security strategy at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.    The document  is a whole-of-government approach towards balancing security and international trade that acknowledges to properly manage cross-border commerce extends beyond the Department of Homeland Security.    The objective is to have a holistic approach for preventing, mitigating and responding to supply chain...

Friday, January 20, 2012

     Transpak, a third party logistics firm specializing in packaging, warehousing, order fulfillment and distribution, has been recognized as a foreign-trade zone (FTZ) site by the Port of Milwaukee.    The designation will allow Transpak partners to benefit from deferral, reduction, or even possible elimination of tariffs on imported goods.    Transpak said it is the first packaging and logistics business in Wisconsin to receive this FTZ designation through the port,...

Thursday, January 19, 2012

     Establishment of new centers aimed at helping expedite the import process for specific industries will take a couple of years longer than originally announced, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.     Last October, the agency set up Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEE) focused on the pharmaceutical and electronics industries. The units essentially function as resource hubs on industry-specific issues for CBP, other government agencies and the priv...

Thursday, January 19, 2012

   In the past several weeks, agricultural specialists in San Juan, Puerto Rico, have intercepted more Thrips on shipments of cut flowers from Colombia than usual, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.     Common names for thrips include thunderflies, thunderbugs, storm flies, thunderblights and corn lice. Thrips species feed on plants and vegetables by puncturing them and sucking up the contents, causing discoloration, deformities and reducing their marketability.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

     In his new job as the Department of Homeland Security's assistant secretary for international affairs and chief diplomatic officer, Alan Bersin will likely try to replicate across multiple agencies the types of management, policy and structural reforms that became the hallmark of his 21-month term as U.S. Customs commissioner, his successor at Customs and Border Protection said Monday.    David Aguilar, acting commissioner of CBP, told a handful of reporters during an ...

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

     There will be no letup in the rapid pace of reforms underway at U.S. Customs and Border Protection to reduce red tape associated with trade enforcement so that legitimate cargo can be cleared and processed as efficiently as possible, Acting Commissioner David Aguilar said 10 days into his new job.    In an invitation-only meeting with three reporters, Aguilar emphatically pledged to build on the initiatives begun by his predecessor, Alan Bersin, to ...

Friday, January 06, 2012

Griswold     The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones has named Daniel Griswold as its new president, replacing Willard Berry who retired in November after seven years at the helm of the organization.    Griswold is a trade expert who headed the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a conservative public-policy think tank that advocates individual liberty, free markets and limited government.    A graduate of the London School of ...

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

     President Obama on Friday named Alan Bersin assistant secretary for international affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, keeping him in the fold to continue pursuing initiatives on cross-border trade and travel in a different position.    DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano made the announcement at a ceremony in Washington in which leadership of Customs and Border Protection was transferred from Bersin to Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar.  ...

Friday, December 30, 2011

Bersin    President Obama has named Alan Bersin assistant secretary for international affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, keeping him in the fold to continue pursuing initiatives on cross-border trade and travel in a different position.    DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano made the announcement this morning at a ceremony in Washington in which leadership of Customs and Border Protection was transferred from Bersin to Deputy Commissioner David Ag...

Friday, December 30, 2011

   A new terminal that APM Terminals (APMT) is planning to build in Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico will have an initial capacity to handle 1.2 million TEUs per year and be able to process as many as 4.2 million TEUs annually when fully completed.    APMT announced Thursday that it had been awarded a 32-year concession to design, build, and operate a new terminal in the Pacific Coast port at a cost of about $900 million.    Last year the port handled about 796,023 TEUs and through N...

Friday, December 30, 2011

     Only a quarter of small and medium-sized businesses export even though growth prospects overseas are better than strictly through domestic sales, according to a survey of more than 1,000 companies sponsored by UPS.    The survey sample shows the untapped potential for exports, but is substantially more than the 1 percent of U.S. companies overall that the U.S. government and other experts estimate are engaged export activity.    The uncertain economy and governmen...

Friday, December 30, 2011

   Based on its annual review of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the White House determined only one product – certain non-down sleeping bags – should be removed from eligibility for duty-free treatment in the trade program.    However, a petition to remove GSP duty-free treatment for two types of self-adhesive plastic tape was denied.    Congress created the GSP program in the 1974 Trade Act to help developing countries expand their economies by allowing certai...

Friday, December 30, 2011

     The White House has determined all 40 sub-Saharan African countries currently eligible for trade preferences and other benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) will remain the same and no new countries will be added at this time.     The Obama administration’s determination is based on the annual review of whether the countries named in AGOA continue to meet its eligibility criteria. Those criteria include establishing, or making continual prog...

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

     The Ethiopian Ministry of Transport has issued a directive, effective January, requiring all government-owned cargoes to be transported by the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Enterprise (ESLE) and only delivered to ports and warehouses that are recognized by the country's customs service.     The directive also covers vehicle shipments of more than three tons, requiring them to be delivered to "dry" ports and warehouses that meet the same customs c...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

     Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday named David Aguilar, deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as acting commissioner.    Aguilar will take over Dec. 30, when outgoing Commissioner Alan Bersin leaves office.     American Shipper also reported that Assistant Commissioner for Field Operations Thomas Winkowski will serve as acting deputy commissioner.     Bersin tendered his resignation from the agency on ...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

     A six-week U.S. government dragnet ended Dec. 16 resulted in the arrest of 33 people allegedly involved in importation, distribution and sale of more than 327,000 counterfeit products, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.    ICE agents participating in Operation Holiday Hoax seized fake toys, cell phones and chargers, handbags, DVDs, perfume, integrated circuits, wallets, computer software and sports jerseys from stores, flea markets and spe...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

   Collaboration between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Consumer Production Safety Commission has resulted in thousands of unsafe toys being kept from sale to the public.    In November, CBP officers in Chicago seized a shipment of 47,700 FBI Action Play Sets from China after CPSC testing of samples determined they contained excessive amounts of lead, which can cause neurological damage in children, the agency said last week.    CBP officers also confis...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Thor Liberty    Finland's Transport Safety Agency has rescinded an impoundment order on the ship Thor Liberty , which was detained in Kotka Harbor after what authorities said were irregularities in the packing of its cargo that included 29 Patriot missiles and explosives.     YLE , Finland's national broadcast company, reported during an inspection carried out on Monday, "the agency gave the green light for releasing the vessel after determining that all poorly packaged explosiv...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Bersin    Alan Bersin will step down as commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, effective Dec. 30, the agency announced Thursday afternoon.    Bersin has headed Customs on a temporary basis since April 2010. He was appointed by President Obama during a congressional recess after the Senate Finance Committee refused to take up his confirmation. Under existing statute, the recess appointment expires at the end of the year.    "Earlier today, I notified t...