In the May 16, 2012 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 46, No. 21), CBP published notice that it is withdrawing its proposed revocation of a ruling on plastic recorder musical instruments due to its receipt of adverse comment. CBP also published a notice that it is withdrawing its proposed modification of a ruling on Acetyl L-Carnitine Hydrochloride, as its classification is being litigated.
In a report on improving U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s detection and deterrence of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion, the Government Accountability Office urged CBP to create a policy and a mechanism for information sharing among ports regarding the use of single transaction bonds (STB) and implement a plan to systematically track and report on AD/CV duty evasion, and said the International Trade Administration should provide advance notice of issuance of liquidation instructions in order to allow CBP to better manage resources. The report, entitled “Antidumping and Countervailing Duties: Management Enhancements Needed to Improve Efforts to Detect and Deter Duty Evasion”, was requested by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
CBP continues to consider combining Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) with C-TPAT, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner David Aguilar said during a House May 17 hearing on Customs issues . He also said critical fixes to already deployed ACE capabilities are among the major goals for CBP in the coming year. E-Manifest: Rail and Sea (M1), simplified entry, and the integration of export capability are also top priorities, he said in response to questions following his written testimony.
Claims and counter-claims about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement flew Wednesday at a lively European Parliament Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee workshop on the controversial treaty. Much of the criticism of ACTA is based on very selective readings of its text, said Anders Jessen, head of unit for public procurement and intellectual property (IP) at the European Commissioner for Trade Directorate. He constantly urged foes to cite chapter and verse on where the agreement allegedly violates fundamental rights.
The Federal Maritime Commission said the following have filed applications for a license as a Non-Vessel-Operating Common Carrier (NVO) and/or Ocean Freight Forwarder (OFF)-Ocean Transportation Intermediary (OTI) pursuant to section 19 of the Shipping Act of 1984 as amended (46 U.S.C. Chapter 409 and 46 CFR 515). Interested persons may contact the Office of Transportation Intermediaries, Federal Maritime Commission, Washington, D.C. 20573, 202-523-5843 or at OTI@fmc.gov.:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted an updated version of its spreadsheet of ACE ESAR A2.2 (Initial Entry Types) programming issues.
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted petitions for a rehearing of GPX International Tire Corp. v. United States, in which CAFC ruled in December 2011 that countervailing duties may not be imposed on goods from China or other non-market economies (NME), in light of the new law upholding the application of CV duties to NME countries. CAFC remanded the case to the Court of International Trade to determine the legislation's constitutionality, in particular that of a "special rule" created by varying effective dates in the provision that, in this case,and according to CAFC "perhaps a few others," allow both antidumping and CV duties to be imposed without providing a mechanism to account for potential double counting.
Direct Resource Inc. has agreed to pay the government $450,000 to resolve allegations that the company falsely claimed payment in violation of the Trade Agreements Act (TAA), which prohibits the sale of products to federal agencies from countries that do not have a reciprocal trade agreement with the United States, the Justice Department said May 8, 2012.
Immersion CEO Victor Viegas indicated on an earnings call that he was unfazed by the patent application covering haptics technology that Apple filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The application “still has quite a ways to go in terms of surviving the PTO examination” process, “especially in light of all of our prior art” on such technology, which Immersion received patents for, he said. “Even if that application were to be granted in some form,” it would not eliminate the need for Immersion’s technology, he said.
The Census Bureau posted the May 2012 AES Newsletter to its website. The newsletter contains articles that provide guidance on, among other things: (1) the new AES Compliance Rate for filers; (2) its report on importing and exporting companies for 2009-10; (3) how to report the NVOCC "booking number"; (4) the DSP-5 Foreign End User as Ultimate Consignee for AES; (5) new features available in USA Trade Online; and (6) AES Broadcast messages.