The Commerce Department has reduced its backlog of Section 232 aluminum and steel exclusion requests and is granting decisions more quickly, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said May 6. She said the agency averages about 50 days to grant an exclusion from the date it receives the request.

The Court of International Trade will allow a customs broker test-taker to proceed with a challenge to his failing grade, denying a motion to dismiss from the government that argued his case didn’t meet procedural requirements. Byungmin Chae’s delay in appealing to the trade court was caused in part by CBP’s own misleading statements, and his early missteps in the case before hiring a lawyer should not bar him from a hearing in court, CIT said in a decision May 7.

International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from April 26-30 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

CBP saw a record 38 million Type 86 entries in April, said Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and conveyance security and controls, who was speaking virtually to the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference on May 5. That's still not capturing the full scope of small packages that come into the U.S. under de minimis, which tops 600 million.

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs began a review of a proposed rule prohibiting goods made using forced labor. OIRA received the proposal from the Treasury Department's customs operations May 4. CBP has been working on regulatory changes for forced labor (see 1703130011) since the law was changed as part of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (see 1603010043).

The Agricultural Marketing Service is in the process of writing a final rule to require electronic filing of certificates for organic products at entry, among other provisions intended to strengthen organic enforcement, said Jennifer Tucker, AMS deputy administrator, at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference May 5.

CBP will be moving drawback operations from within dedicated drawback centers and into the Centers of Excellence and Expertise, said Sharolyn McCann, director, Commercial Operations, Revenue and Entry, Office of Trade. McCann, who recently replaced Randy Mitchell in that role, spoke May 4 during the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference. "We are hoping to have this transition completed by the end of the fiscal year, the end of September," she said.

The Agricultural Marketing Service has secured funding for its Section 8(e) partner government agency (PGA) message set for imports of specialty crops, and now awaits CBP programming before it can move forward with full implementation, said Brian Barber of Wilson International during a panel discussion at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America annual conference May 3.

CBP has set a "very aggressive schedule" for moving ahead with a proposal to require 36 hours of continuing education for customs brokers every three-year period, said John Leonard, acting executive assistant commissioner for trade, while speaking remotely to the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America conference May 3. Some factors involved in the timing are out of CBP's control, but "we've got some very highly placed advocates within the Department of Homeland Security that are hopefully going to work their magic with the Office of Management and Budget," he said.

Trade groups whose members would have to pay foreign digital services taxes and trade groups whose members would have to pay if tariffs are hiked up to 25% on products from the countries imposing DSTs agree that DSTs are wrong and that the government should use all its persuasive power to convince countries like India, the United Kingdom and Spain not to impose these taxes. But the internet trade groups split on whether tariffs are the right tool to convince countries to roll back or never pass DSTs, and retailers and apparel and footwear companies say the tariffs will hurt American businesses and consumers more than the targeted exporters.