Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, hosted an event in Brooklyn, Ohio, last week to highlight his efforts to restrict Chinese goods from eligibility for de minimis shipments. The event included representatives of a local textile mill, law enforcement and others. Brown introduced a bill, the Import Security and Fairness Act, in June 2023 that would end China’s de minimis eligibility (see 2306150061). He also has urged the Biden administration to take executive action on the matter (see 2402260076).

Don Church of Texas pleaded guilty Aug. 1 to illegally importing protected Australian reptiles into the U.S. on behalf of a "fake zoo which he represented as legitimate," DOJ announced. Church entered 165 Australian reptiles, all covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, by giving U.S. and Australian authorities false information.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last week affirmed the convictions of six companies for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, customs fraud and promotional money laundering. However, the court said the trial court failed to resolve the parties' dispute on the value of the companies' warehouses before finding that they "lacked the ability to pay" the over $1.8 billion judgment and "ordering a nominal payment schedule."

CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related matters:

Registration for the Oct. 23 customs broker license exam (CBLE) is opening Aug. 12 at 12:01 a.m. EDT, CBP said in a message. Registration closes Sept. 11 at 4:30 p.m. EDT.

A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Aug. 2, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.

In the July 31 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 58, No. 30), CBP published proposals to revoke ruling letters concerning cheetah Squishmallows and paper wine bottle carriers from China.

CBP plans to expand its presence in Laredo, Texas, by opening a Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) office, according to Peter Touhy, director of the Miami C-TPAT field office within CBP’s Office of Field Operations.

CBP plans to add a new ACE functionality that will automate the removal and restoration of Entry Type 86 test participants, it said in the latest version of its ACE development schedule, released Aug. 5.

Trade associations are generally pleased with the trade facilitation discussion draft issued in the Senate last week (see 2407310037), though they all noted that moving to a true one-U.S.-government data submission and release regime requires money, which may not follow, even if the bill becomes law.