Need a good introduction to “New NAFTA”? An article written today by Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain, called “The New NAFTA: What Does It Mean For Supply Chains?”, is a great place to start.
This Q&A covers topics associated with the new agreement and the potential impact to U.S. supply chains.
Specifics about the new deal, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, have been published on the Office of The United States Trade Representative website, found here.
ACE FILING NOTICE – RECON
According to to CBP CSMS# 18-000689, issued today, November 21, when filing a reconciliation for a Free Trade Agreement issue, ACE is displaying incorrect original paid amounts. Until headquarters issues further guidance, filers should submit the reconciliation header information in the Document Imaging System (DIS) when filing the reconciliation with a FTA issue.
If you have any questions or require additional information, please send an email to
OT-RECONFOLDER@CBP.DHS.GOV, Commercial Operations, Revenue and Entry Division, Office of Trade.
As just announced in CBP’s CSMS #18-000465, dated August 1, 2018, various changes to user fees will take effect on October 1, 2018.
The Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) ad valorem rate of 0.3464% will NOT change. However, note the following changes:
The Federal Register Notice (83 FRN 37509) can be read here. Another CSMS will be sent when the changes are in the ACE Certification environment for trade testing.
On Friday June 15th, 2018, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that the U.S. will follow through with 25 percent tariffs on approximately $50 billion worth of goods from China in 2018 import value (read announcement here).
The list of goods covered by the order includes mainly industrially significant technology products spread across 1,102 U.S. tariff lines. The list of specific tariff numbers can be found here and, as announced, CBP will begin collecting these additional duties beginning July 6th.
Additionally, there is a second set of HTS numbers which have been identified by the interagency Section 301 Committee as benefiting from Chinese industrial policies. These include the “Made in China 2025” industrial policy, and the set covers about $16 billion worth of imports from China. The second set of products will undergo a public notice and comment process, including a public hearing, after which USTR will issue a final determination on the products from the list that would be subject to the duties, the agency said. Crowell Morning Trade Law wrote a good overview on this, here.
The USTR will “soon provide an opportunity” for the public to request exclusion of “particular products” from the duties to be imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, and will issue a notice in the Federal Register with details on this process within the next few weeks, USTR said.
China’s 24 hours Advanced Manifest Regulation UpdateHave you been asked by your Chinese partners for additional company information for new shipment into and out of China? It is our initial understanding that for US entities the information requested is the consignee or notify party’s company Employee Identification Number (EIN). The carrier OOCL provides a good overview to their customers on their website, here.
Our friends at NCBFAA are also working diligently on providing guidance on the new requirements for shipments to and from China. The regulations are confusing and in some cases contradictory. We will follow up with addition information as it becomes available.
The GACC published the original requirements in 2008 in Decree No. 172. These specific requirements were not implemented in 2008. Customs announced in Notice No. 56 that implement would begin June 1, 2018. (See links to the notices below).
Below are some additional links to the GACC notices:
As announced, the U.S. Trade Representative (Trade Representative; USTR) has determined that the acts, policies, and practices of the Government of China related to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation covered in the investigation are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is seeking public comment and will hold a public hearing regarding a proposed determination on appropriate action in response to these acts, policies, and practices. The Trade Representative proposes an additional duty of 25 percent on a list of products from China. The list of products, defined by 8-digit subheadings of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), is set out in the Annex to this Notice.
The official 301FRN notice is: OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE Docket No. USTR-2018-0005 Notice of Determination and Request for Public Comment Concerning Proposed Determination of Action Pursuant to Section 301: China’s Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation. Read the notice here.
Attorneys Susan Kohn Ross and Kevin Rosenbaum from MSK, published a blog article today which gives a complete overview of the situation. Read here. As they also say, “Stay tuned for more developments”.
ALERT! Per CSMS Message 18-000240, issued on March 22nd, the additional duty on imports of steel and aluminum articles under Section 232 are effective with respect to goods entered, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on March 23, 2018.
This CSMS message provides specific details on the additional requirements and entry filing process, known as a Section 232. Below is an overview of the process, or click here to read the full CBP message.
Which countries are included? All countries are covered by the initial order except Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, South Korea, Brazil and member countries of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom).
How to file? CBP has developed new tariff numbers in chapter 99 which allows for the correct additional duties to be calculated and transmitted on the entry.
*The aluminum order does not apply to products made with aluminum or parts of downstream products.
These additional HTS numbers are now effective and available in CNI. Per CBP, Importers and filers failing to submit the required Chapter 99 HTS classifications with the entry summary information for imports under the specified Chapter 72, 73, and 76 HTS classifications for the covered countries of origin will receive the following reject messages:
E1 IQ10 LINE SUBJECT TO QUOTA
E1 FQ09 QUOTA NOT ALLOWED FOR ENTRY TYPE
E1 FQ05 BANNED IMPORT
E1 RF998 TRANSACTION DATA REJECTED
For more information, please refer to the Presidential Proclamations on Adjusting Imports of Steel and Aluminum into the United States, Federal Register, 83 FR 11619 and 83 FR 11625, March 15, 2018; and the March 22, 2018 Presidential Proclamations on Adjusting Imports of Steel and Aluminum into the United States.
As you know, CBP delivered ACE Deployment G, Release 4, on Saturday, February 24th, as promised. One of the critical pieces of this deployment was moving reconciliation entries into ACE, along with drawback, liquidation and other functionality. Read our prior blog on this deployment.
Now, CBP has made long-awaited ACE REPORT ENHANCEMENTS relating to recon. On March 17th, 2018, CBP has deployed two new universes and nine new standard reports in ACE, to further support the transition of reconciliation into ACE. These enhancements are meant to provide the trade with all necessary information for reconciliation filing. Read CSMS #18-000229 – ACE Deployment G Reports Deployment – March 17, 2018 here.
For example, ACE ES-501 is a report showing all open entries flagged for recon. ES-502 provides bond information.
In fact, on April 14, 2018, the Authorized Data Extracts will be retired, and effective this date, all reports capabilities will reside in ACE Reports.
For more information, please review the ACE Deployment G Reports Information Notice for Trade.
CustomsNow is an ACE-certified software vendor and compliance consulting company, whose clients are brokers, importers, exporters, forwarders, and more. We have an excellent reconciliation solution, which allows filers to upload underlying entry data from any/all various original filers to a single recon. Contact us to learn more.
March 18, 2018 U.S. Department of Commerce Announcement
Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its procedures for excluding products from the recently announced tariffs on steel and aluminum product imports. As directed by President Trump, the Department will publish the procedures in the Federal Register and will start accepting exclusion requests from U.S. industry on Monday, March 19, 2018, at 8:45 AM.
Click HERE to see the Federal Register notice.
“These procedures will allow the Administration to further hone these tariffs to ensure they protect our national security while also minimizing undue impact on downstream American industries,” said Secretary Ross. “Starting tomorrow, domestic industry will be able to apply for exclusions through a fair and transparent process run through Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.”
Secretary Ross, in consultation with other Administration officials, will evaluate exclusion requests, taking into account national security considerations. In that evaluation, the Secretary will consider whether a product is produced in the United States of a satisfactory quality or in a sufficient and reasonably available amount. A single response to each exclusion request will be posted on regulations.gov.
Only individuals or organizations using steel or aluminum articles identified in Presidential Proclamations 9704 and 9705 and engaged in business activities in the United States may submit exclusion requests. Exclusion requests will be posted for a 30-day comment period on regulations.gov.
Separate exclusion requests must be submitted for each unique steel or aluminum product import. For an exclusion request to be considered, the requester must provide a full factual description of the specific product, its properties, and its quantity.
Any individual or organization in the United States may file objections to steel or aluminum exclusion requests, but the Commerce Department will only consider information directly related to the submitted exclusion request that is the subject of the objection. Organizations submitting an objection filing on an exclusion request should provide specific information on the product that their company can provide that is comparable to the steel or aluminum product that is the subject of the exclusion request.
Organizations filing an objection should also provide factual information on the production capabilities at steel or aluminum manufacturing facilities that they operate in the United States; the availability and delivery time of the products that they manufacture relative to the specific steel or aluminum product that is subject to an exclusion request; and discussion on the suitability of its product for the application or applications identified by the exclusion requestor.
Both the exclusion requests and objection filings will be available for public viewing on regulations.gov. Processing of exclusion requests normally will not exceed 90 days, including adjudication of objections submitted on exclusion requests.
The forms for submitting steel and aluminum exclusion requests, and objections to specific exclusion requests, will be available on regulations.gov on March 19, 2018, at 8:45 AM. The steel docket number is BIS-2018-0006 and the aluminum docket number is BIS-2018-0002.
Copies of the forms and additional information on the exclusion process will be available at https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/232-steel and https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/232-aluminum on March 19, 2018, at 8:45 AM.
For questions concerning the exclusion process, contact steel232@bis.doc.gov or 202-482-5642 for steel-related queries and aluminum232@bis.doc.gov or 202-482-4757 for aluminum-related queries.
*NOTE: Click HERE to read CBP’s CSMS #18-000219 – Harmonized System Update 1803 created on March 13, 2018, which included the modifications made as a result of the two Presidential Proclamations enacting Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
On March 6th, 2018, CBP issued their long-awaited E-Commerce Strategy, as announced here.
For several years, CBP has seen a tremendous increase in e-commerce shipments, which CBP defines as high-volume, low-value shipments purchased via electronic means. These shipments generally enter the U.S. as small package (mail/courier) shipments, and many of these imports fall under the de minimus value amount of $800, where no form of entry is required, known as a Section 321 declaration. It’s interesting to note that most other nations are reducing the value allowed for these type of “non-entry” shipments, rather than increasing it (read more about the de minimus value increase in 2016 here).
With this growth in e-commerce related volume, CBP says, there is also an increased opportunity for illicit and dangerous products to cross our borders, placing Americans’ health and safety at risk and creating new risks that can compromise U.S. intellectual property rights. CBP has recently conducted tests where they inspected a large percentage of small packages for a given period and port. Through these tests, many infractions were discovered, including trademark violations, illicit drugs, and more, further prompting CBP to develop a strategy.
CBP’s resources have traditionally been dedicated to targeting ocean, truck, and air shipments for infractions, and so, did not build sophisticated process around small packages. Now, with this new strategy, CBP will be enhancing their legal authority to address small packages, develop risk-based ways of identifying potential illegal shipments, drive importer compliance, and assist in developing international standards for small packages.
The overall Goals and Objectives of the strategy are:
Read the complete E-Commerce Strategy plan here.
We, at CustomsNow, are looking forward to the day when importers of small packages or their brokers can electronically file their Section 321 entries through ABI / ACE. Providing this information to the authorities, in an electronic format, is key to developing and enforcing a risk-based strategy.
