The Court of International Trade on April 29 rejected a bid by BP Oil Supply Co. to get drawback on over 40 million barrels of crude oil it imported in the mid-1990s. Although the imported crude and the exported crude had been of different types, BP had requested unused merchandise drawback based on the fact that the different types of oil were about the same weight. But both CBP and CIT found that BP failed to provide enough evidence that the imported and exported oil were commercially interchangeable. And the court also found that the way the Alaska oil industry works means that the exported oil wasn’t unused, either.
A recently started campaign is working to push back against momentum for changes at CBP that could lessen the need for individually licensed customs brokers. The campaign, called "See a Broker, Save a Broker," was started in response to coming capabilities within CBP's Automated Commercial Environment that would allow for expanded Remote Location Filing (RLF), potentially meaning a single broker's license is all that would be necessary for importers across the country. "The national permit coupled with full blown RLF not only threatens our profession through lost jobs and core missions to protect the revenue and borders by reducing the ranks currently enlisted in this shared responsibility, it also devalues the individual license holder through declining demand," the campaign said.
Congress needs to provide “an on-going commitment to policies that ensure wireless providers have access to a significant and predictable supply of spectrum,” CTIA told House lawmakers in comments on the House Communications Subcommittee white paper issued as part of its Communications Act update process. Comments, which were due Friday, weren’t immediately released but a committee spokesman told us comments will likely be posted on the House Commerce Committee website in the same manner responses to its first white paper were earlier this year. CTIA and some others made their comments available to us.
Despite a previous port classification decision and 81 subsequent liquidated entries claiming preferential treatment under that classification, the entries of a single importer through a single port is not enough to create an "established and uniform practice," CBP said in ruling HQ H15556. The ruling, dated Feb. 3, addressed an internal advice request on whether embroidered fabric produced in Honduras using originating embroidery yarns and batiste fabric from China origin qualify for preferential tariff treatment as an originating good under the Dominican Republic -- Central America -- U.S. Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). The agency also considered whether a uniform practice had been established.
Political group spending disclosure would vastly expand, often being posted on radio and TV station websites, under a new proposal from the FCC chairman and the general counsel during the administration of President John F. Kennedy. Targeting FCC and not Federal Election Commission rules, ex-FCC Chairman Newt Minow and then-General Counsel Henry Geller would have U.S. stations make such disclosure, by way of sponsorship identification. The proposal likely will be backed by nonprofit groups supporting such disclosure, and opposed by political advocacy groups and associations that don’t now have to share such information publicly, said those on all sides of the issue in interviews Tuesday.
Political group spending disclosure would vastly expand, often being posted on radio and TV station websites, under a new proposal from the FCC chairman and the general counsel during the administration of President John F. Kennedy. Targeting FCC and not Federal Election Commission rules, ex-FCC Chairman Newt Minow and then-General Counsel Henry Geller would have U.S. stations make such disclosure, by way of sponsorship identification. The proposal likely will be backed by nonprofit groups supporting such disclosure, and opposed by political advocacy groups and associations that don’t now have to share such information publicly, said those on all sides of the issue in interviews Tuesday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on April 14 upheld a lower court ruling in a contentious dispute over CBP’s reclassification of white sauce imported by International Custom Products. As it had foreshadowed during oral argument, CAFC ruled that a CBP notice of action effectively revoked a 1999 ruling letter on the white sauce, which means it was an “interpretive ruling or decision” that should have been subject to notice and comment under 19 USC 1625(c).
The American Association of Exporters and Importers urged the Supreme Court take up an appeal on the tariff classification of Ugg boots, in an amicus brief filed April 9. The high court needs to decide once and for all the level of deference owed to internal agency decisions at CBP, said AAEI. Confusion over the issue led to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit finding Deckers Outdoor Corporation’s boots to be “slip-on footwear” because of an internal CBP “footwear definitions” document that wasn’t subject to notice-and-comment, it said (see 13050901). If allowed to stand, the decision would effectively usurp the courts’ duty to interpret the law, said AAEI.
Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., lashed out twice last week against Comcast for its lobbying powers. He raised the issue at the Wednesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Time Warner Cable, where the cable giants launched a vigorous defense of why the deal would be good for consumers. Franken, the most vocal critic in Congress of the deal, also needled the cable giant on the issue in an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators, slated to be telecast Saturday.
LAS VEGAS -- The place for Remote Location Filing within the virtual Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is yet to be decided at this point, said Brenda Brockman Smith, executive director of the ACE business office at CBP. Smith, who spoke at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference on April 9, also said she expects the agency to add some Food and Drug Administration (FDA) elements to the system before CBP begins to require all trade filing in ACE.