The Environmental Protection Agency is set to issue a final rule overhauling its regulations on international shipments of hazardous waste, it said (here).The final rule, which will be published “in the coming weeks,” will apply the same set of regulations, including notice and consent procedures, to all import and export shipments, whether from members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canada or Mexico, or non-OECD members, according to a pre-publication copy (here). Other changes include electronic submission of all required documents, and provide for electronic validation of consent in the Automated Export System.
CBP said it created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1613 on Oct. 4, containing 4,489 ABI records and 1,613 harmonized tariff records (here). Modifications include changes to the steel LPC code. Modifications include those mandated by the Agricultural Marketing Service, adjusting the assessment on imported cotton and cotton products. Participating Government Agency (PGA) indicators were also updated, and adjustments required by the verification of the 2016 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are included as well. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov
Harmonized tariff schedule and Schedule B tables were updated in the Automated Export System (AES) to reflect implementation of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, effective immediately, the Census Bureau said in an email. Among the wide-ranging additions are tariff lines for various metals, foods, tobacco products, textiles and chemicals.
The Bureau of Industry and Security issued a final rule Sept. 20 aligning the Commerce Control List (CCL) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR) with changes made to the Wassenaar Arrangement’s List of Dual-Use Goods and Technologies during the December 2015 Wassenaar Plenary Meeting (here). Goods in CCL Category 1 (special materials and related equipment, chemicals, “microorganisms” and “toxins”) sustained 12 revisions, more than any other category, altogether composing 58 total changes, while Category 5-Part 1 (“Telecommunications”) added Export Control Classification Numbers (ECCNs) 5A003 (“Systems,” “equipment,” and “components,” for non-cryptographic “information security”), and 5A004 (“Systems,” “equipment,” and “components” for defeating, weakening, or bypassing “information security”).
CBP will not immediately reject export filings without data required by the National Marine Fisheries Service once NMFS ACE export requirements take effect Sept. 20 (see 1608150011), according to an update from the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America. Export filers that do not include the additional data elements will receive a “verify” or “warning” message at this time, although eventually the missing data will cause a fatal error, the update said. The Automated Export System is already programmed to accept the additional NMFS data elements, and by Oct. 1 will include Schedule B and Harmonized Tariff Schedule flags, it said. "If the exporter's commodities are subject to the NMFS regulation, they will have to provide you with the data elements and in turn, you will have to provide them with the ITN [(internal transaction number)] so that they can upload the necessary documents to NMFS,” the NCBFAA said. CBP did not immediately comment.
CBP said it created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1612 on Aug. 30, containing 4,692 ABI records and 935 harmonized tariff records (here). Modifications include changes made to the HTS Chapter 62 that were in the customs reauthorization law, CBP said. That customs law resolved errors in another law that created new HTS subheadings for recreational performance outerwear, but specified the wrong duty rates for the new tariff lines (see 1508080003). Adjustments required by the verification of the 2016 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are included as well. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov
The Agricultural Marketing Service is reissuing a proposal to amend its regulations on the beef promotion and research order to increase fee assessments on importers of veal and veal products, and to update the table of Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) numbers subject to importer assessments, it said (here). The new proposal replaces a notice it issued in March but subsequently withdrew to correct errors, it said. Comments on the proposal are due Oct. 24.
CBP said it created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1611 on Aug. 11, containing 2,707 ABI records and 743 harmonized tariff records (here). Modifications include changes to the steel LPC code. This indicator has been re-added to all associated harmonized tariff records, CBP said. Adjustments required by the verification of the 2016 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) are included as well. The modified records can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov
CBP created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 1609 on July 21, and HSU 1610 on Aug. 4, the agency said in a CSMS message (here). Modifications include changes to support new ACE license, permit and certificate (LPC) functionality and adjustments made as result of a recent Food and Drug Administration Deeming Rule for Tobacco, effective Aug. 8, 2016. More information can be found on the FDA’s website (here). Further modifications include the addition of EPA PGA indicators to be used with PGA Message Set submissions, CBP said. The modified records are currently available to all ABI participants and can be retrieved electronically via the procedures indicated in the CATAIR, CBP said. Further information: Jennifer Keeling, Jennifer.Keeling@dhs.gov