The Commerce Department should make clear who involved in the import process might be subject to the proposed procedures for how to review transactions that involve information and communications technology and services (ICTS) and are seen as a potential threat, the Express Association of America said in comments. The Commerce proposal is meant as a way for the government to oversee transactions, including importations, seen as risky (see 1911260032). Comments on the proposal were due Jan. 10 and were posted in Commerce docket 2019-0005.
Tim Warren
Timothy Warren, Executive Managing Editor, Communications Daily. He previously led the International Trade Today editorial team from the time it was purchased by Warren Communications News in 2012 through the launch of Export Compliance Daily and Trade Law Daily. Tim is a 2005 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and lives in Maryland with his wife and three kids.
The contracting parties to the Harmonized System Convention approved the 2022 edition of the Harmonized System, the World Customs Organization said in a news release. “The HS serves as the basis for Customs tariffs and for the compilation of international trade statistics in 211 economies (of which 158 are Contracting Parties to the HS Convention),” it said. The new HS2022, which comes into force Jan. 1, 2022, “makes some major changes to the Harmonized System with a total of 351 sets of amendments covering a wide range of goods moving across borders,” the WCO said.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 30 - Jan. 3 in case you missed them.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with some of the top stories for Dec. 23-27 in case you missed them.
President Donald Trump signed the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, S. 1790 into law, with provisions targeting tech companies Huawei and ZTE (see 1912130027), the White House announced on Dec. 20. The law bars the Trump administration from lifting the Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security's addition of Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer Huawei to its export entity blacklist without congressional approval. The law also requires reports to Congress on waivers issued to companies doing business with Huawei as well as ZTE's compliance with a 2018 agreement that lifted Commerce's ban on U.S. companies selling telecom software and equipment to ZTE.
The Government Accountability Office and the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General each released a report on Dec. 17 that noted various issues within CBP's drawback program. The GAO's report suggested that CBP work to flag excessive export submissions and “establish a reliable system of record for proof of export,” among other things. The DHS IG report found that CBP “lacked appropriate documentation retention periods to ensure importers and claimants maintained support for drawback transactions” and didn't scrutinize prior drawback claims enough for claimants during 2011 to 2018.
The U.S. will soon start discussions with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations about a possible connection between ASEAN's customs filing platform with the U.S. platform, the State Department said in a Nov. 3 fact sheet about "Expanding the Enduring Partnership" with ASEAN. "The United States and the ASEAN Secretariat announced the opening of negotiations to link the ASEAN 'Single Window' with the U.S. Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) System, which governs all trade in goods entering the United States," State said. "Making this link will further facilitate $272 billion in two-way trade in goods between the United States and ASEAN."
The EU will apply its own tariffs to U.S. products, Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom said in a news release. "“We regret the choice of the U.S. to move ahead with tariffs," she said. "This step leaves us no alternative but to follow through in due course with our own tariffs in the Boeing case, where the U.S. has been found in breach of WTO rules."
The next few months include a "rapid-fire succession of trade and tech war deadlines" that poses a high level of uncertainty for the fight between the U.S. and China, Bank of America economists Ethan Harris and Alexander Lin said in a Sept. 30 research report. Of those deadlines, what happens with Huawei's temporary general license is likely the most important unknown, they said. Huawei on Nov. 17 will be cut off from all U.S. exports, but "we expect an 'extend and pretend' scenario where Huawei remains on the 'entity list' but is allowed to keep buying US inputs."
The Federal Maritime Commission will look at multiple factors, including cargo accessibility and the transparency of involved terminology, when it considers whether detention or demurrage practices are reasonable, the agency said in a notice it posted ahead of publication in the Federal Register. The proposed interpretive rule is meant to help address issues with detention and demurrage charges and follows a multiyear effort on that front (see 1606130005). Comments are due Oct. 17, the FMC said in a news release.