CBP is looking into making admissibility decisions earlier on for importers that give the agency more information about their supply chains, Garrett Wright, director of trade modernization at CBP, told an April 22 meeting of the Commerce Department's Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness. The agency is looking at some broad changes to its processes as part of the CBP work on the 21st Century Customs Framework (see 2011120010). The effort's five main “bucket areas” include "updates that improve the timeliness and the quality of data that we receive or is made available to us so we can reengineer our entry processes so we are able to clear lawful trade more quickly,” he said.
Tim Warren
Timothy Warren is Executive Managing Editor of Communications Daily. He previously led the International Trade Today editorial team from the time it was purchased by Warren Communications News in 2012 through the launch of Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. Tim is a 2005 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids.
CBP is moving away from relying on blockchain for its trade processing "for a number of reasons and moving more toward interoperability," Vincent Annunziato, director of CBP’s business transformation office, told an April 22 meeting of the Commerce Department's Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness. "One of the reasons we are moving into interoperability is not to not invest in blockchain, but to allow private sector, all of you, to invest in the technologies that you would like to use in order to communicate with the government," he said. CBP has been looking into making use of the technology for several years (see 1711080023).
The origin of electric vehicle motors and the applicability of Section 301 tariffs depends on where the two most important components of the engine are made, said CBP in a recently released ruling. In response to a country of origin ruling request from LG Electronics, CBP considered multiple manufacturing scenarios for the motors.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from April 12-16 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP detained 371 shipments between Oct. 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, due to the possible use of forced labor on the goods, the agency said in newly updated forced labor statistics. That marks an increase of 281 stopped shipments from the previous release of statistics, when CBP said it detained 90 shipments between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020 (see 2101290050).
The Office of Management and Budget should restart consideration of a proposal to end the de minimis exemption for goods subject to Section 301 tariffs, the National Council of Textile Organizations said in an April 14 letter to acting OMB Director Robert Fairweather. The review of the proposal began at OMB last year (see 2009040026) but was removed as part of a broad regulatory freeze after President Joe Biden took office (see 2101210039). OMB should reopen the review and “grant approval to this much needed change in CBP regulations,” NCTO said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from April 5-9 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
Customs modernization legislation should include a requirement for customs brokers, freight forwarders and other filers to “attain and deploy requisite and continuing education providing the capacity to operate in the modern trade environment,” a National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America subcommittee said in a draft report released April 12. The draft white paper comes from the NCBFAA subcommittee working to develop suggestions as CBP comes up with a legislative proposal for customs modernization (see 2011120010). CBP is still in the process of reviewing responses to a proposal for continuing education requirements, though an official said it isn't totally clear that the benefits would outweigh the costs (see 2103250030).
The assembly of lithium-ion battery packs in China prior to import doesn't result in a substantial transformation, CBP said in an April 1 ruling. Greenworks Tools sought a country of origin ruling on the battery packs, which are used with power tools. The company argued that the origin should be based on the origin of the battery cells and CBP agreed.
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from March 29-April 2 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.