This summary report highlights the most active textile and apparel tariff preference levels1 from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “Quota Weekly Commodity Status Report.” It also lists the TRQ commodities on CBP’s weekly “TRQ/TPL Threshold to Fill List.” Note that the fiscal year 2012 commodity TRQs reopened for a new quota period on October 1, 2011, as did the TPLs for the CBTPA.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued CSMS #11-000278 which states that they are still working to resolve a QX/WX Air In-Bond application issue uncovered in the production system. That application was deployed on August 8 but then was disabled when the problems was discovered. Development of the fix to resolve the issue is now complete and is being tested internally. CBP says it currently does not have a tentative timeline for deployment due to the on-going ACE M1 testing, but as soon as a reliable date is determined, the agency will send out a new CSMS announcing the date.
In the November 2, 2011 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 45, No. 45), CBP published two notices that propose to modify two rulings and similar treatment regarding the tariff classification of jewelry boxes covered in plastic-coated paper and a certain carrying case.
On October 13, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and import specialists assigned to the Los Angeles/Long Beach seaport discovered and seized 14,900 children’s pajamas in violation of the Paul Frank trademark in a shipment arriving from Indonesia. The shipment contained counterfeit Paul Frank’s trademark characters: Blue Julius, Red Scurvy, Purple Scurvy and Pink Scurvy. The infringing merchandise has an estimated domestic value of $92,700. If the trademark had been genuine, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of the pajama shipment would have been $537,000.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued CSMS #11-000276 stating that this month, the following ISF reports: (1) Filer, (2) Filer by Importer, and (3) the surety reports, will not be available either by email or through the ACE Portal until after November 9. CBP apologizes for any inconvenience.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a press release reporting its progress in fulfilling its agriculture mission and advancing inspection processes. For example, CBP caught the Asian gypsy moth (AGM) 20 times in 2009; in mid-October 2011 the annual number was 22. As a result of the increased interceptions in 2009, APHIS began an AGM Inspection Certification program for international vessels that visit high risk countries. CBP also created a Khapra beetle training program for CBP agricultural specialists, and in fiscal year 2011, made 194 Khapra beetle interceptions. To deal with potential agriculture-related emergency scenarios, APHIS and CBP convened a group of experts to identify and propose emergency responses. The plan just received final approval and is being coordinated for a joint agency roll-out.
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.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection's November 2, 2011 Customs Bulletin (Vol. 45, No. 45) contains 10 notices of ruling actions:
On November 2, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Bersin spoke to the International Association of Chiefs of Police on CBP's global data collection and risk-assessment capabilities for cargo and passengers used to fight terrorism. He stated that CBP has launched a new era of trusted shipper and trusted traveler programs, reaping the benefit of reams of new information that comes with these members. However, he stated CBP needs to put more resources on the 1-2% of cargo and travelers whose compliance with standards is uncertain. Bersin stated that no nation can secure itself without the support of allies and that security must be borderless. CBP believes strengthening partnerships with police entities around the world is the keystone to continued success in the agency's counter terrorism efforts.