CBP looks set to take a wide open approach to electronic filing of Section 321 entries, with a “range of options” that allow filers to “do whatever works best for their business model,” said Michael Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America, in an interview. Clearance off manifest would likely continue, using an item descriptor to identify cargo, with electronic filing expanded to other modes. CBP will also likely allow Section 321 entries in the Automated Broker Interface using the 10-digit Harmonized Tariff Schedule number, Mullen said.
The Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 24 posted a new chapter of its draft guidance document on human food preventive controls regulations, detailing requirements for supply chain programs for human food products that in some cases may be applicable to importers. Under the supply chain provisions, facilities that manufacture or process ingredients from outside suppliers must use approved suppliers and appropriate supplier verification activities, including on-site audits and record reviews of their suppliers. FDA’s draft guidance includes information and illustrative examples on who is subject to supply chain program requirements and what activities they must conduct.
The Food and Drug Administration on Jan. 24 released a series of draft and final guidance documents intended to assist importers in complying with its Foreign Supplier Verification Program regulations. A new, 108-page draft guidance on FSVP includes a series of questions and answers on all aspects of the rules, including who must comply and what specific criteria importers must apply when developing their FSVPs. FDA also released a small entity compliance guide with specific emphasis on FSVP’s modified requirements for small businesses, and another draft guidance on how importers should determine whether their supplier is implementing the equivalent to U.S. food safety controls.
Chemical industry groups in the U.S., Canada and Mexico proposed a series of 10 rules of origin for chemical products in a revised NAFTA agreement, in a letter dated Jan. 11. Rules of origin for chemicals of chapters 28, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 38, 39 and 40 of each country’s respective tariff schedule should confer NAFTA status based on the “last substantial transformation,” with importers and exporters to select from a non-hierarchical menu of 10 ways chemicals may be transformed into NAFTA products, the letter said.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2017 in case they were missed.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 11-15 in case they were missed.
The National Marine Fisheries Service will allow a period of “informed compliance” after compliance with new ACE filing requirements for certain species under the Seafood Import Monitoring Program takes effect Jan. 1, CBP said in a CSMS message. Entries rejected because of missing or incorrect SIMP data that cannot be resolved in a “timely manner” may be refiled under the same entry without the SIMP message set, the agency said. The entries will be released with a warning message as long as all other NMFS filing requirements are met, and the filer will be required to submit the correct SIMP information “as soon as possible.” Entries that are not corrected “in a timely manner” will be “targeted with a full chain of custody audit,” NMFS said.
CBP should remove from its regulations a limit of "one shipment per day" for imports under $800, the National Association of Manufacturers said in comments to the agency about rules considered onerous (see 1712120024). That shipment limit goes against "modern business practices where manufacturers may need to import commodities, component[s] or other goods on a 'just in time' basis," NAM said. "Manufacturers recommend that CBP eliminate the one shipment per day provision to be consistent with the" Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, which raised the dollar value of the de minimis threshold.
The U.S. should keep pressing Mexico and Canada to raise their de minimis levels and work to collaborate with them on trade enforcement against dumping and illegal subsidies during the ongoing NAFTA renegotiation, lawmakers heard in testimony for the House Foreign Affairs Trade Subcommittee Dec. 12. While Canada and Mexico have said they’re not “ready” to get on board with a U.S. proposal to raise their $15 and $50 respective de minimises to the U.S.’s $800 level, an increase could spur an e-commerce boom as de minimis wasn’t a consideration in the original NAFTA negotiations, Council of the Americas Vice President Eric Farnsworth said during a hearing. A negotiating impasse on de minimis is slowing completion of an updated NAFTA customs chapter (see 1712010039).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 4-8 in case they were missed.