According to The Journal of Commerce (JoC), the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach may reduce the time that importers and exporters have to store their containers for free. (JoC, dated 02/16/04-02/22/04, www.joc.com)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued electronic bulletin board (CEBB) messages which contain new instructions from the International Trade Administration (ITA) on accepting blanket certifications for certain exclusions from the countervailing (CV) duty order on dynamic random access memory semiconductors (DRAMS) from South Korea (C-580-851).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued two administrative messages stating that, effective February 23, 2004, the filing of U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA) and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA) claims via the Automated Broker Interface (ABI) system is now available for the tariff preference levels (TPLs) for textiles and/or apparel and the tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for agricultural products.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that the Automated Commercial System (ACS) has been updated to accept U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA) and U.S-Singapore FTA (SFTA) claims through the Automated Broker Interface (ABI), effective February 23, 2004.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued an ABI administrative message correcting two previously issued messages on the upcoming ABI system requirements for filing U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA) and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SFTA) claims.
On February 2, 2004, the World Shipping Council (WSC), the National Industrial Transportation League (NITL), the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. (NCBFAA), and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) filed a petition with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) requesting reconsideration of certain aspects of CBP's December 5, 2003 final rule on the advance electronic presentation of cargo information that pertain to inbound ocean cargo.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) states that until further notice, filers are to use the code "YU" for the country of "Serbia and Montenegro," as ACS cannot yet accept the correct ISO code of "CS" for this country. CBP states that it currently maintains a number of unliquidated import entries from the former Czechoslovakia, that have a then-correct ISO code of "CS".
In George E. Warren Corporation v. U.S., the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) upheld an earlier Court of International Trade (CIT) ruling that denied the plaintiff's claim for drawback on Harbor Maintenance Taxes (HMTs) and Environmental Taxes (ETs).
As state lawmakers get down to the serious business of the 2004 sessions, a number of proposed measures have cleared important hurdles on the road to final passage. Bills seeing recent action would reform PSC procedures, wireless E-911 funding, spam, telemarketing, service quality and Internet porn.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a 12-page memorandum containing its instructions on the filing and substantiation of claims for preferential tariff treatment made under the U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA).