U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued two Frequently Asked Questions documents on the ACE Simplified Entry Pilot that it plans to start testing in the air environment with pilot participants by late January 2012. One set of FAQs is on the policy aspects of the pilot; the other FAQ set is on its technical aspects. Among other things, CBP states that the Simplified Entry data set is 90% complete and it is currently reviewing which airports will be used for the pilot. In addition, a working group will convene in February 2012 to discuss the vision of Simplified Summary and define its requirements.
Latest Harmonized System updates
International Trade Commission officials have issued three corrections to its recently released list of Harmonized Tariff Schedule statistical changes (at the 9th and 10th digit level) approved by the 484(f) Committee, that take effect on January 1, 2012. The corrections affect light amber honey and certain AC generators (alternators). As of January 3, the ITC's preliminary 2012 HTS only reflects correct information for the AC generators.
Census has issued an AES broadcast announcing that, effective immediately, the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) tables in the Automated Export System have been updated to reflect changes for textile-bottomed footwear (in chapter 64) made by Presidential Proclamation 8742.
At the December 7, 2011 COAC meeting, the COAC Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Rights and CBP provided an update on their activities. COAC made recommendations for facilitating legitimate trade, including a C-TPAT-like supply chain partnership program for IPR and a distribution chain management serialization concept for validating the authenticity of goods. CBP announced that it had submitted a legislative proposal to Congress on sharing unredacted samples.
The Government of Canada issued the following trade-related notices for Dec 19-20, 2011 (note that some will also be given separate headlines):
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing the issuance of Harmonized System Update 1108. This update contains 577 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records and 118 harmonized tariff records.
Officials at the International Trade Commission state that the Proclamation to amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule to implement hundreds of WCO-recommended tariff changes is "at the White House" and is expected to be signed by the President by the end of the year. Once it is signed, it will be published in the Federal Register and take effect 30 days after its Federal Register publication, which would likely be in the late January 2012 timeframe.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has updated its Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR) for entry summary and related information filed through the Automated Commercial System (ACS) in order to add a new Appendix U on PGA Manifest Hold Status Messages, among other changes.
The International Trade Commission has updated its online 2011 Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS Revision 1) to reflect Proclamation 8742’s changes for special upland cotton import quotas. The ITC had previously updated the online 2011 HTS to reflect Proclamation 8472’s changes for textile-bottomed footwear and Chile FTA origin rule changes.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a CSMS message announcing the issuance of Harmonized System Update 1107. This update contains 28,916 Automated Broker Interface records and 4,758 harmonized tariff records.