CBP is seeking public comment on whether to impose continuing education requirements on licensed customs brokers, it said in a notice released Oct. 27. The notice, an advance notice of proposed rulemaking, is the latest development in the long-discussed idea of adding such requirements (see 2002130025). CBP's notice goes over a number of possible scenarios for how continuing education could be administered and asks for input on a wide range of operational questions.

CBP is planning to “streamline its current process on the forfeiture and disposition of seized merchandise” valued at less than $2,500, the agency told the Government Accountability Office in response to a GAO report. The GAO recommended in its report that CBP take a faster enforcement approach to counterfeit goods in small packages. CBP agreed with the recommendation and said a new policy is estimated to be in place by Jan. 29.

CBP issued a CSMS message Oct. 26 announcing changes to the tariff schedule to implement a recent proclamation amending safeguard duties on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, including the elimination of an exemption for bifacial panels (see 2010130028). The announcement came despite a last-minute court order blocking the proclamation’s withdrawal of the bifacial panel exclusion. The CSMS message does not mention the court order. A CBP spokesperson said the agency "is in the process of issuing additional guidance on this subject." The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Justice Department didn’t comment.

Law firm Husch Blackwell has no objection to a Department of Justice proposal to designate the first-filed HMTX Industries-Jasco Products complaint as a test case in the massive Section 301 litigation, but “there is no reason that it should be chosen as the only test case without further analysis,” it said Oct. 22 in a partial opposition to the government’s Oct. 19 motion for case management procedures (see 2010200022). It told the Court of International Trade that it represents 75 “individually named plaintiffs” of the “approximately 6000 plus” importers seeking to vacate the lists 3 and 4A tariff rulemakings and get the duties refunded.

FBB Federal Relations partner Ray Bucheger told members of the Pacific Coast Council of Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Associations that while the message on the Hill is discouraging on extending current Section 301 exclusions, his firm is working on legislation for the companies that received exclusions too late to get refunds for the tariffs paid.

FDA recently announced the creation of its online system for U.S. agents of registered food facilities. The agency’s U.S. Agent Voluntary Identification System, unveiled in a guidance document issued Oct. 16, will allow U.S. agents to identify the facilities for which they agree to serve as agents, and streamline the U.S. agent verification process for food facility registration.

An advance notice of proposed rulemaking on customs broker continuing education requirements (see 2009140033) is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on Oct. 28, said John Leonard, CBP executive director-trade policy and programs, during the virtual Western Cargo Conference on Oct. 23. The advance notice will be available for preview on the public inspection site on Oct. 27, he said. “It's a great ANPRM, if I do say so myself.”

The revision of the Customs chapter in U.S. Code Title 19, originally scheduled for next spring, will be delayed, the Office of the Law Revision Counsel said Oct. 19.

The FDA mistakenly added three foreign companies to Import Alert 99-41 recently for violations of Foreign Supplier Verification Program requirements, an agency spokesperson said. The additions were in error, and the agency is “taking steps to ensure future listings adhere to the intent of the import alert, which is to address an importer’s lack of compliance with the FSVP regulation,” the spokesperson said by email on Oct. 21.

Duties continue to be collected under the Section 232 tariffs on aluminum from Canada, despite a September Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announcement that the tariffs would end. Lauren Wilk, Aluminum Association vice president for policy and international trade, said Oct. 22 that a presidential proclamation or executive order rolling back the tariffs never came.