Customs

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...

Thursday, December 22, 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 Bersin leaves office.    Assistant Commissioner for Field Operations Thomas Winkowski will serve as acting deputy commissioner, Napolitano said in a statement.    Earlier in the day Bersin tendered his resignation, although his departure does not com...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

     Test transmissions and processing of electronic sea and rail manifests for the new Automated Commercial Environment are going well, putting U.S. Customs and Border Protection on track to soon transition transportation providers to the new system, the agency announced Friday.    A sea/rail manifest pilot program involving one rail carrier and one ocean began in November. On Monday, OOCL identified itself as the first liner carrier to migrate to the new system. The ...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Thor Liberty     Finnish police and customs officials have reportedly seized a cargo of 69 Patriot missiles and explosives on a ship bound for China.     YLE , the Finnish Broadcasting Co., said there is a "shroud of mystery" about the shipments, which were found on the ship Thor Liberty , a 1994-built 5,400 deadweight ton tweendecker that is part of the fleet of Thorco Shipping of Denmark.     "Not only is the final intended destination of the 69 American-ma...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have removed thousands of unsafe Christmas lights from the distribution pipeline to stores after a central squad of analysts dedicated to import safety zeroed in on several questionable shipments.    Law enforcement personnel in the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, recently seized a shipment of 5,700 sets of holiday lights with undersized wires that could overheat and cause fires or become exposed and cause electric shocks.&nbs...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

     A Chinese perfume importer on Monday was sentenced in Brooklyn, N.Y., to 12 months in prison for trafficking in counterfeit perfume, the U.S. Justice Department said.    Shaoxiong Zhou, 42, of Shantou, Guangdong, China, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sandra L. Townes in the Eastern District of New York. Townes also ordered Zhou to pay $20,000 in restitution.    Zhou pleaded guilty Aug. 5 to one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods. He admitted that he o...

Monday, December 19, 2011

   The European Shippers Council (ESC) said it's becoming increasingly concerned about the impact on supply chains from European Commission regulation 185/2010 which will amend the air cargo security regime after April 29, 2013.    On that date, known consignors will need their security procedures and measures validated by an officially approved inspector. Otherwise the air freight must be made secure by a regulated agent or a carrier by scanning.   &nbs...

Thursday, December 15, 2011

     U.S. and Canadian officials last week outlined priorities for coordinating customs and cargo security processes, enhancing border infrastructure and harmonizing regulations to increase the efficiency of trade across the border and boost their respective economies.    A Beyond-the-Border action plan as well as new focus areas for a Regulatory Cooperation Council were the primary outcomes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to the White House. Th...

Thursday, December 08, 2011

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection will organize for the first time two Trade Symposium events in 2012, one on each coast, to make it more convenient for international trade professionals to attend the popular conference and hear from top officials about the agency's programs to manage the border, Maria Louisa O'Connell, senior advisor for trade and public engagement, said Wednesday.     For the past 11 years, CBP has hosted the annual Trade Symposium in Washin...

Thursday, December 08, 2011

   U.S. Customs is on track to begin receiving simplified entries by the end of January from nine brokerage firms participating in a new pilot program to streamline the types of documentation required to import merchandise, Steve Hilsen, director of trade policy and agreements, said Monday.    The agency announced Nov. 9 that it will run a demonstration program in the air cargo environment to reduce the number of transmissions of redundant data and give importers advance notice ...

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

   A grand jury has charged three persons with smuggling honey from China into the United States, said United States Attorney Robert E. O'Neill in Jacksonville.    Chin Shih Chou, a/k/a "Jeff" (48, Taiwan), Qiao Chu, a/k/a "Dott" (25, China), and Wei Tang Lo a/k/a “Danny,” a/k/a “Larry Law,” a/k/a "David Lo" (48, Hacienda Heights, California) are charged with falsely labeling the honey as "rice fructose" in order to avoid more than $1 million in duties owed to the United States. They...

Tuesday, December 06, 2011

     Two New Jersey men were charged in an indictment unsealed on Dec. 1 in the Eastern District of New York for their roles in a conspiracy to import and traffic in counterfeit perfume, the Justice Department said.    Sanjay Anandani, 34, of Clinton, N.J., was arrested on Dec. 1 in Secaucus, N.J., and made his initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Levy in the Eastern District of New York. Rohit Rohit, 28, of Edgewater, N.J., surrendered to authorities t...

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

   Belgium’s Port of Antwerp will step up efforts to prevent importers from using second-hand cars to bring illicit wastes into the country.    The Antwerp Port Authority board on Tuesday approved the new measures, effective Jan. 1. Sharper checks will be carried out not only on the vehicles themselves but also on accompanying freight. With these new regulations the port hopes to make clear what can and cannot be shipped.    Antwerp is one of Europe’s largest port...

Monday, November 14, 2011

   The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security has aligned its licensing requirements and policies under the Export Administration Regulations for Liechtenstein with those of Switzerland.     Liechtenstein will now be treated the same as Switzerland in the EAR.     “By virtue of a Customs Union Treaty with Switzerland, Liechtenstein has adopted the export controls implemented under Swiss law, including controls equivalent to those prescribed und...

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

  U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been working for more than a year on a way to simplify the customs entry process and is now ready to test its concept with private sector volunteers that ship goods by air. Instead of filing the customs entry when all 27 pieces of required data are in hand, an importer or broker will be able to submit 12 required data elements and three optional data elements at any time prior to arrival of the shipment at a U.S. port of entry.    The agency w...

Monday, October 17, 2011

   Crowley Maritime Corp. has named Nelly Yunta vice president of U.S. imports, customs brokerage and consulting, for Customized Brokers.    Customized Brokers is Crowley's customs brokerage company in Miami, where Yunta is based. She reports to Crowley's Steve Collar, senior vice president and general manager of logistics.    Yunta joined Crowley in 1988 as a senior coordinator in the Miami traffic department. She was named regional sales manager in 1998 and general manage...

Friday, October 14, 2011

   Customs and Border Protection has tentatively selected four companies to operate centralized exam stations (CES) in the Port of New York and New Jersey.    The agency has asked the shipping industry for comments this month on those selected. The firms and the sites are:    ●  East Coast Warehouse in Port Elizabeth, N.J., and New York Container Terminal on Staten Island, N.Y., as sites for comprehensive stations.    ●  H&M International Transportat...

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

   The Port of Milwaukee has become the grantee status of Foreign Trade Zone No. 41 for Milwaukee and Southeast Wisconsin.    Eric Reinelt, port director, said the U.S. Commerce Department's Foreign-Trade Zone Board has approved the transfer of the zone from a private individual, Vincent J. Boever.    The port now plans to promote the zone as a tool for economic development and creation and retention of jobs in the region.    Reinelt also said that the FTZ board al...

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

   UPS said Monday it will offer its air freight customers the same capability now enjoyed by small package shippers to electronically clear customs in more than 90 countries.    The UPS Paperless Invoice product is free of charge and integrates order processing, shipment preparation and commercial invoice data. It then transmits that data in advance of the shipment to customs offices across the world, eliminating problems that often accompany paper documentation.    Becaus...

Friday, October 07, 2011

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it is shining its enforcement spotlight on imports of conversion kits for high-intensity discharge lamps, replacement light sources and ballasts that violate federal safety standards.    Shipments of non-compliant merchandise are being identified at the agency’s Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center (CTAC) for Import Safety with the help of the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.    Las...

Thursday, October 06, 2011

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection has created an internal version of the Trade Support Network to better pulse frontline employees about what functions they expect from the Automated Commercial Environment, Cindy Allen, director of the ACE Business Office, confirmed last week.   ACE is the next-generation system, 10 years in the making, designed to process all types of commercial trade and provide a platform for communication with importers, exporters and other government agencies. Th...

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

   Customs inspectors in Guatemala are inspecting 100 percent of containers unloaded in Puerto Quetzal, according to a note Tuesday by liner carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co.    "Unfortunately, the volume of inspections has overwhelmed the infrastructure of the port," MSC said in a statement. It added that it expects a delay of four to five days before containers are discharged due to the new examination process.

Monday, October 03, 2011

   A Chantilly, Va. woman, Chun-yu Zhao, has received a 60-month prison sentence and heavy financial penalties for masterminding a conspiracy to import counterfeit computer networking equipment, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said over the weekend.    CBP officers intercepted computer networking products that were believed to be counterfeit, with the agency’s National Targeting and Analysis Group (NTAG) in California, piecing together common elements in hundreds of unrelated shipm...

Friday, September 30, 2011

   The World Customs Organization will host a customs and trade forum in Guangzhou, China on Nov. 24-25 to discuss knowledge sharing as a way to improve public-private cooperation to enhance the management of modern, secure international supply chains.    The event, which is expected to draw upwards of 500 customs and business attendees, will include discussions covering:    • Sharing knowledge to inspire trade development and economic prosperity.    • Risk managem...

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Widdows   Ron Widdows, the group president and chief executive officer of Neptune Orient Lines, will remain chairman of the World Shipping Council (WSC) through September 2012, even after he retires as head of NOL at the end of this year.   WSC, the chief trade association for the liner shipping industry, said at its membership meeting in Seoul last week, Wan Min, managing director of COSCO, and Ottmar Gast, chairman of the executive board of Hamburg Süd, were elected to two-year ter...

Thursday, September 29, 2011

   U.S. Customs and industry representatives on Monday outlined how a simplified process for filing import declarations would look and said a trial program will start soon to demonstrate how fewer documentation requirements could benefit the government and importers alike.    The goal is to give trusted traders a more streamlined process to get goods released by linking security and admissibility data requirements. A simplified customs entry would resemble the Importer Security Filin...

Monday, September 26, 2011

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection and industry officials are preparing for life after Alan Bersin with no signs that the U.S. Senate is prepared to confirm him as commissioner so he can remain in office.      Unless the Senate Finance Committee formally recommends his appointment to the full Senate for its consent, Bersin’s dynamic tenure as head of the nation’s primary border security and trade enforcement agency will be over in three months.    President Obam...

Friday, September 23, 2011

  The U.S. Senate Thursday voted 70-27 to renew the Generalized System of Preferences and Trade Adjustment Assistance programs that had expired within the past year.   The trade package now heads to the House for final approval and opens the door for trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and Korea to be considered.   GSP promotes economic growth in 129 developing countries and territories by providing duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products. The legislation retroactively ...