U.S. Customs and Border Protection has recently posted Automated Commercial Environment "Topic" documents providing information on various ACE Secure Data Portal issues, etc.
On December 26, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2008 was signed into law.
On December 26, 2007, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2008 was signed into law.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an ABI administrative message announcing that the New Orleans client representative branch office will be closed on Tuesday, February 5, 2008 due to the observance of the local Mardi Gras holiday. CBP states that the office will reopen on Wednesday, February 6, 2008.
The Google-DoubleClick regulatory ordeal gets a revival in Microsoft’s proposed $44 billion acquisition of Yahoo, analysts and activists said Friday. As in that deal, parties predict U.S. and European approval but higher hurdles across the Atlantic. Some said, however, the Microsoft proposal also would face more scrutiny stateside than Google’s purchase, due in part to the Justice Department’s antitrust case against Microsoft. Privacy advocates see no difference between the two acquisitions as far as their threat to privacy.
The following are documents which CBP updates frequently (weekly, monthly, etc.):
The Journal of Commerce reports that importers and exporters who ship through Los Angeles-Long Beach know that trucking rates will rise and trucking capacity will diminish when new environmental rules take effect later in 2008. According to the article, large shippers are already taking steps to protect themselves by lining up truck capacity so that they'll have access to truck service if capacity tightens. (JoC article, dated 01/28/08, www.joc.com.)
The National Association of Manufacturers said in a filing at the FCC that TV white spaces should be opened for use by unlicensed devices but only with protections for other users of the spectrum. These include a registration requirement for high-power devices, a power limit of up to 4 watts for fixed and mobile systems and a requirement that all devices have sensing capability. NAM said the controls it’s requesting are similar to those sought by Motorola. The association noted that private land mobile operators use TV channels 14-20 in areas and that wireless microphones are often used in industrial facilities.
The State Department has issued a notice correcting the passport fee schedule published in its December 2007 final rule providing for a passport card (also called a PASS Card) for land and sea travel between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. The corrections, as well as the December 2007 final rule, are effective February 1, 2008.
Last week’s order containing the second-largest indecency fine sat on the FCC’s top floor for nearly two years before all commissioners voted for it, said agency sources. In a departure from regular practice, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin didn’t approve the nearly $1.5 million penalty against ABC (CD Jan 28 p1) when circulating the notice of apparent liability on the eighth floor in March 2006, said the sources. Martin likely hoped to defer action on the order until an appeal was resolved in a similar case, said industry lawyers.