Archive for August, 2008

Washington - U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s trade office today advised the trade community of new reporting requirements to ensure that importers comply with the new declaration requirements passed in the Farm Bill related to transaction value of imported merchandise.

Washington – U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s office of international trade today advises the trade community of a 30-day grace period for implementation of the new Softwood Lumber Act of 2008 reporting requirements.

WASHINGTON – United States Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab announced today that the United States, together with Japan and Chinese Taipei, requested the World Trade Organization (WTO) to establish a dispute settlement panel to review whether the European Union (EU) has failed to accord duty-free treatment to certain products covered by the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and thus entitled to such treatment.

SUMMARY: The USCG announces the availability of the draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) for Coast Guard modernization. Through this modernization effort, the USCG intends to update its command structure, support systems, and business practices to position itself for sustainable and effective mission execution into the twenty-first century. The Draft PEA is an important document informing these efforts, and we request public input into the Draft PEA for more fully informed decision making during this process.

Los Angeles – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced today the expansion of the Global Entry pilot program to four additional airports: Los Angeles International, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, Chicago O’Hare International, and Miami International.

Notice is hereby given that National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc.(“Petitioner'') has petitioned, pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 40103 (former Section 16 of the Shipping Act of 1984 (“the Shipping Act'')), and 46 CFR 502.67 and 502.69, for an exemption from the provisions of the Shipping Act that require non-vessel-operating common carriers (“NVOCCs'') to publish and adhere to all ocean tariff rates.

Washington - The Office of the United States Trade Representative today announced the allocations for the increased Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 tariff-rate quota for refined sugar. A tariff-rate quota is an import policy that allows countries to ship specified quantities of a product to the United States at a relatively low tariff, but subjects all other imports of that product to a higher tariff. This action is in response to a continuing tight refined sugar market due to significantly reduced domestic refining capacity as a result of the February 2008 explosion of a domestic raw cane sugar refinery and a reduction in this coming crop year's sugar beet production.

SUMMARY: This document brings attention to the existing statutory requirement by which all maritime containers in transit to the United States are required to be sealed with a seal meeting the ISO/PAS 17712 standard and specifies the date on which the requirement shall take effect.

SUMMARY: This document adopts as a final rule, with some changes, interim amendments to title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations (“CFR'') which were published in the Federal Register on June 29, 2007, as CBP Dec. 07-51 to implement the preferential…

WASHINGTON – The cross-border trucking demonstration project will be extended for two years as permitted under U.S. law, announced John H. Hill, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator. He released the following statement: "I am pleased with the…