U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued the following news releases related to commercial trade and related issues:
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued its weekly tariff rate quota and tariff preference level commodity report as of December 12, 2011.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted the weekly foreign currency exchange rate multipliers for the week ending December 9, 2011.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a December 12, 2011 version of its CF 1400 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Entrances) electronic query report of the Vessel Management System (VMS), in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by entrances. CBP has also posted a December 12, 2011 version of its CF 1401 (Record of Vessel in Foreign Trade Clearances) electronic query report of the VMS, in accordance with 19 CFR 4.95, organized by clearances.
A listing of recent antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted to U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Web site as of December 14, 2011, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. These messages are available by searching on the listed CBP message number at http://addcvd.cbp.gov.
On November 23 and 25, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport complex seized 151 life-size decorative lights of Santa Claus, a snowman and a polar bear, with electrical adapters containing counterfeit Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) markings. The infringing merchandise was discovered in two shipments from China. The estimated manufacturer’s suggested retail price for the 151 units is $173,000 with an estimated domestic value of $110,000. These lights were identified as part of a joint national operation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is requesting comments by February 7, 2012, on an existing information collection on the NAFTA Regulations and Certificate of Origin (CBP Forms 434 and 446). CBP is proposing to extend the expiration date of these forms and to add CBP Form 447.
CBP has posted an updated version of its Public Automated Commercial System FIRMS (Facilities Information and Resources Management Systems) report that is organized by port code and alphabetically by company name.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted an updated version of its TRQ/TPL "threshold to fill" list, a quick reference to monitor TRQs and TPLs that are approaching their restraint limit or have filled their in-quota (low) rate. The list is divided into two sections: those that are at least 85% filled and those that are filled.
On December 13, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar discussed air cargo security and provided details on the Air Cargo Advance Screening pilot (ACAS) to participants at the American Association of Airport Executives Aviation Security Summit. Aguilar stated that in the first half-year of the ACAS program, the pilot screened more than two million U.S.-bound packages before they were loaded on an aircraft. He said the program not only improves supply-chain security, but also reduces the number of inspections and speeds up the overall process.