CBP plans an April 16 webinar on "Manifesting and Entry of Residue Found in Instruments of International Traffic (IITs)." The one-hour webinar primarily targets companies that may be eligible to participate on the test. Speakers are to include Amy Hatfield, Branch Chief, Cargo Conveyance & Security, Office of Field Operations, Jeremy Baskin, Assistant to the Executive Director of Regulations and Rulings, Office of International Trade, and James Swanson, Office of Field Operations ACE Liaison. The panelists will discuss the CBP National Customs Automation Program Test Concerning Manifesting and Entry of Residue Found in IITs. The webinar will conclude with a question and answer session. The webinar will be at 1 p.m., and repeated at 2:30 p.m. To join the meeting: (here).
CBP’s increased budget under the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill will ease the sting of sequestration and grant the agency some leeway in how it administers cuts, industry experts said. The increased funding, combined with discretion in implementing the cuts, may even allow the agency to entirely avoid furloughs, they said. But even if furloughs are avoided, cuts to overtime for CBP staff could still result in port delays, particularly at peak processing times.
April 7-10 NCBFAA Annual Conference, Westin Mission Hills, Rancho Mirage, CA (here)
Given delays caused by sequestration funding cuts, CBP will reiterate to the ports its commitment to giving priority to C-TPAT shipments designated for examination, it said in an update to its FAQ on sequestration. The agency is currently working with its NAFTA partners to manage the flow of traffic at land border crossings, with the aim of continuing to offer front-of-the-line priority for its trusted partners in the face of the backlog created by reduced staffing, it said. But despite sequestration, CBP said implementation of the CEEs is currently on schedule. The agency also still hopes to complete ACE within its originally scheduled timeframe.
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for March 25-29 in case they were missed.
Some ocean carriers are having trouble seeing their list of approved trade partners, who may obligate their Type 2 custodial bond, in their ACE Portal account, said CBP in a CSMS message. Even though trade partners aren't currently being displayed, the In-bond Authorization functionality is still working as designed and trade partners are still associated to the carrier’s account, said CBP. CBP is working to resolve this issue and a notification will be posted to the ACE Portal News tab when the issue is resolved.
The next meeting for the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) is scheduled for May 22 in Washington, according to CBP's trade newsletter for the second quarter of FY 2013. The newsletter also provided descriptions of the most recent COAC meeting and ongoing efforts to use the Automated Commercial Environment with exports.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service’s pilot on electronic filing of import inspection applications through the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) will begin in summer 2013, and will include all products under FSIS jurisdiction, including meat, poultry, and processed egg products, the agency said. While FSIS doesn’t currently plan to restrict the number of participants, it may do so based on the number of volunteers responding to the request for participation in the pilot, it said. And although the Federal Register notice announcing the pilot said requests to participate are due by May 28 (see 13032829), FSIS will evaluate any request to volunteer for the pilot, including late requests, and “consider such requests appropriately,” the agency told us.
Forthcoming customs reauthorization legislation will force Congress to confront tensions between trade security and trade facilitation, costs and benefits -- including how to implement the International Trade Data System and monitor Automated Commercial Enforcement -- according to a March 22 report on CBP from the Congressional Research Service. Most of the issues for Congress relating to CBP reauthorization stem from the “inherent tension between the commercial interest in trade facilitation and the often competing goals of enforcing trade laws and import security measures,” said the report, which also details the agency’s history and programs.
CBP issued the following releases on commercial trade and related issues: