Increased enforcement helped raise the overall submission rate for importer security filings (ISFs) for U.S.-bound cargo (ISF-10s) from 95 percent to 99 percent between 2012 and 2015, but CBP could better evaluate the program’s effectiveness through actions such as comparing manifests with vessel stow plans, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released July 20 (here). The GAO recommended several actions to enhance CBP’s identification of high-risk cargo shipments and enforcement of its November 2008 ISF interim final rule, which has been fully enforced since July 2013. The CBP Commissioner should identify and collect additional performance information on the impact of ISF data, such as identifying shipments containing contraband.
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of July 10-16:
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for July 10-14 in case they were missed.
Initial net neutrality comments were due Monday and major players weighed in, joining millions who had already filed. The FCC ultimately will have to address the filings, especially from groups like the Internet Association and major broadband ISPs. But industry officials said Monday the comments likely to get the most attention at the Ajit Pai FCC are those that offered hard data on the economic effects of Title II broadband reclassification and the 2015 rules.
Initial net neutrality comments were due Monday and major players weighed in, joining millions who had already filed. The FCC ultimately will have to address the filings, especially from groups like the Internet Association and major broadband ISPs. But industry officials said Monday the comments likely to get the most attention at the Ajit Pai FCC are those that offered hard data on the economic effects of Title II broadband reclassification and the 2015 rules.
The Court of International Trade on July 13 found an importer negligently misclassified entries of bags for storing cold beverages, despite having consulted its customs broker as to the correct classification (here). Farhan Khan did not exercise reasonable care because he should have consulted other sources after receiving three conflicting suggestions from his broker, and improperly relied on his broker's opinion to classify related but different beverage bags, CIT said.
Internet giants and others joined to oppose FCC plans to undo the 2015 net neutrality order reclassifying broadband providers as common carriers under Communications Act Title II. Day of Action (DOA) participants urged people to tell the commission and Congress to preserve net neutrality and an open internet, though edge companies didn't emphasize Title II (and ISPs opposed its use). Some doubted FCC Republicans would change course, but net neutrality advocates said the protest boosted resistance that complicates the rollback efforts and advances their cause.
Internet giants and others joined to oppose FCC plans to undo the 2015 net neutrality order reclassifying broadband providers as common carriers under Communications Act Title II. Day of Action (DOA) participants urged people to tell the commission and Congress to preserve net neutrality and an open internet, though edge companies didn't emphasize Title II (and ISPs opposed its use). Some doubted FCC Republicans would change course, but net neutrality advocates said the protest boosted resistance that complicates the rollback efforts and advances their cause.
Ohio's two senators are concerned that an existing CBP rule may interfere with attempts to halt customs duty evasion by foreign companies. Sens. Rob Portman, a Republican, and Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, told Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan that an agency interim final rule (from August 2016) to implement Enforce and Protect Act (EAPA) provisions of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act will undermine CBP efforts to stop duty evasion, and recommended that the agency release a revised rule. Among the concerns detailed in a letter (here) to McAleenan were that the rule doesn’t establish an administrative protective order process for evasion cases, and that the rule limits authorized evasion proceedings to too narrow a group of stakeholders, or "parties to the investigation."
The following lawsuits were filed at the Court of International Trade during the week of July 3-9: