Women's Wear Daily reports that apparel importer groups have formed a new coalition to oppose U.S. Customs and Border Protection's proposal to do away with the "First Sale Rule," stating that its elimination could increase apparel tariffs by as much as 15%. (WWD dated 02/06/08, available at http://www.wwd.com/article/print/122311)
American Shipper reports that according to former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, Robert Bonner, if the import-export industry gets behind the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to upgrade cargo security, it may have a chance to get Congress to reverse course on its mandate to require every ocean container to be scanned overseas by 2012. (Bonner is now a homeland security consultant and principal with the Sentinel HS Group, headed by former aide Brian Goebel.) (American Shipper, dated 01/24/08, www.americanshipper.com)
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted to its Web site its report to Congress on the Automated Commercial Environment for the third quarter (April 1, 2007 - June 30, 2007) and fourth quarter (July 1, 2007 - September 30, 2007) of fiscal year 2007.
Representative Ken Calvert has issued a press release announcing the introduction on January 23, 2008 of "Our Nation's Trade, Infrastructure, Mobility, and Efficiency Act of 2007" (H.R. 5102) in order to ease congestion in areas impacted by goods movements. Among other things, the legislation would impose a fee on each article that is imported into the U.S. that would be the lesser of: (i) .075% of the value of the article or (ii) $500. (Press release, dated 01/23/08, available at http://calvert.house.gov/. and H.R. 5102 available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h5102ih.txt.pdf)
The European Union has issued a press release announcing that the European Commission has agreed on proposals that will dramatically increase the use of renewable energy in each country and set legally enforceable targets for governments to achieve them. All major CO2 emitters will be given an incentive to reform the Emissions Trading System and will impose an EU-wide cap on emissions to reduce greenhouse gases by at least 20%, and increase to 20% the share of renewable energies in the energy consumption by 2020, as agreed by EU leaders in March 2007. (EU Ref. IP/08/80, dated 01/23/08, available at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/80&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en)
The New York Times reports that a global boom in the cost of commodities is entering its sixth year with no end in sight, and economists see a fundamental shift driving the markets which will be hard to stop because the ascent in commodity prices is connected to events beyond the U.S., particularly the industrialization of China, and to a lesser extent of India, and in booming oil economies like Saudi Arabia and Russia. (NY Times, 01/15/08, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/business/worldbusiness/15commodities.html)
The Journal of Commerce reports that fuel prices and security surcharges are likely to offset rate reductions for air-cargo shippers in 2008. (JoC, dated January 2008, www.joc.com)
1. CBP to Report to Congress on SFI in April and October
According to the Journal of Commerce and www.reginfo.gov, on December 19, 2007, the Office of Management and Budget completed its review of CBP's proposed rule on importer security filing and additional carrier requirements. OMB states that it is targeted to be published in January 2008. (Information available by selecting "regulatory review completed in 30 days," and select DHS as the agency at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoPackageMain )
The Long Beach Board of Commissioners on December 17, 2007 approved a cargo fee to help fund clean trucks and improve air quality that will place a $35 charge on every loaded twenty-foot equivalent (TEU) cargo container entering or leaving any terminal by short-haul (or "drayage") truck beginning June 1, 2008. The fee will not apply to containers entering or leaving the Port by train and will end when the fleet of drayage trucks meets Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) requirements in about 2012. The Port of Los Angeles is scheduled to consider a similar fee December 20, which would apply the Clean Truck Fee to the entire San Pedro Bay. (LB Port release dated 12/17/07, available at http://www.polb.com/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=315&targetid=1 )