• PNCT - PNCT will be closed Monday January 2nd
• Maher Terminal - Please be advised that Maher Terminals and the Maher Empty Depot operated by Columbia will be closed for truck line activity (all move types) on Monday, January 2, 2023 (New Year’s holiday observed).
• PierPass - Terminals at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have announced schedules for the New Year’s holiday period of Friday, Dec. 30, 2022, through Monday, Jan. 2, 2023. The schedule is posted here. The PierPASS/PortCheck Customer Service Center will have modified hours of operations on Friday, 12/30 from 6am to 3pm PST. Please plan your claiming activity accordingly.
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Federal Register Notices:
• Limitation of Duty-Free Imports of Apparel Articles Assembled in Haiti Under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act (CBERA), as Amended by the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity Through Partnership Encouragement Act (HOPE)
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Polyethylene Terephthalate Sheet From the Sultanate of Oman: Preliminary Results of Changed Circumstances Review and Intent To Revoke the Antidumping Duty Order
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Chlorinated Isocyanurates From China and Spain
• Investigations; Determinations, Modifications, and Rulings, etc.: Ammonium Sulfate From China; Cancellation of Hearing for Full Five-Year Reviews
• Stainless Steel Wire Rod From India
• Notice of Scope Ruling Applications Filed in Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Proceedings
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Paper Clips From the People's Republic of China: Final Results of the Expedited Fifth Sunset Review of the Antidumping Duty Order
• Paper File Folders From India: Postponement of Preliminary Determination
• Multilayered Wood Flooring From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results of the Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, Preliminary Determination of No Shipments, Preliminary Successor-in-Interest Determination, and Rescission of Review, in Part; 2020-2021
• Circular Welded Carbon-Quality Steel Pipe From the United Arab Emirates: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; 2020-2021
• Circular Welded Carbon-Quality Steel Pipe From the Sultanate of Oman: Preliminary Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review; Deferred 2019-2020 Period and Concurrent 2020-2021 Period
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Emulsion Styrene-Butadiene Rubber From Brazil, Mexico, Poland, and South Korea; Scheduling of Full Five-Year Reviews
• Investigations; Determinations, Modifications, and Rulings, etc.: Certain Smart Thermostat Hubs, Systems Containing the Same, and Components of the Same; Notice of Commission Determination Not To Review an Initial Determination Granting Complainants' Motion for Leave To Amend the Complaint and Notice of Investigation
• Steel Nails From the United Arab Emirates; Notice of Commission Determination To Conduct a Full Five-Year Review
• Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews: Circular Welded Carbon-Quality Steel Pipe From Oman, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates: Continuation of Antidumping Duty Orders
• Investigations; Determinations, Modifications, and Rulings, etc.: Institution of Investigation; Certain Location-Sharing Systems, Related Software, Components Thereof, and Products Containing Same
• Certain Wearable Electronic Devices With ECG Functionality and Components Thereof; Notice of the Commission's Final Determination Finding a Violation of Section 337; Issuance and Suspension of a Limited Exclusion Order and a Cease and Desist Order; Termination of the Investigation
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CBP Enforces Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act - U.S. Customs & Border Protection
Agency is detaining merchandise based on evidence that these entities use North Korean Labor in their supply chains.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) began detaining merchandise produced or manufactured by Jingde Trading Ltd., Rixin Foods. Ltd., and Zhejiang Sunrise Garment Group Co. Ltd. at all U.S. ports of entry on Dec. 5, 2022. This enforcement action is the result of a CBP investigation indicating that these companies use North Korean labor in their supply chains in violation of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
CAATSA prohibits the entry of goods, wares, and articles mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in party by North Korean nationals or North Korean citizens anywhere in the world, unless clear and convincing evidence is provided that such goods were not made with convict labor, forced labor, or indentured labor under penal sanctions. Pursuant to CAATSA, CBP will detain merchandise from these entities at all U.S. ports of entry unless there is clear and convincing evidence that forced labor was not present at any stage of the production process. Evidence must be provided within 30 days of notice of detention. If the importer fails to provide clear and convincing evidence within this timeframe, the merchandise may be subject to seizure and forfeiture.
“CBP is committed to keeping America’s supply chains free of goods produced with forced labor and to eliminating this horrific practice,” said CBP Office of Trade Executive Assistant Commissioner AnnMarie R. Highsmith. “North Korea’s forced labor system operates both domestically and internationally and supports the North Korean Government’s weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, and it is also a major human rights violation. Legally and morally, we cannot allow these goods into our commerce.”
Any person or organization that has reason to believe merchandise in violation of CAATSA, or any merchandise produced with forced labor, is or is likely to be imported into the United States can report detailed allegations by contacting CBP through the e-Allegations Online Trade Violations Reporting System or by calling 1-800-BE-ALERT.
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Federal Trade Commission Extends Public Comment Period on Potential Rule Regarding the Harms Caused by Junk Fees in the Economy - Federal Trade Commission
On October 22, 2022, the Federal Trade Commission announced it is seeking public comments on whether it should explore a rule regarding the harms caused by junk fees and the unfair or deceptive tactics companies use to impose them. Junk fees are unnecessary, unavoidable, or surprise charges that inflate costs while adding little to no value for consumers. The notice announcing this initiative was published in the Federal Register on November 8.
At the request of interested persons, the Commission has extended the public comment period until February 8, 2023. Information about how to submit comments can be found in the Federal Register notice.
The Commission vote approving extension of the public comment period was 4-0.
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CSMS # 54509427 - Termination of Burkina Faso Designation as a Beneficiary Sub-Saharan African Country to the African Growth & Opportunity Act (AGOA), Effective January 1, 2023 - U.S. Customs & Border Protection
This message is to inform the trade community of the termination of Burkina Faso as a beneficiary sub-Saharan African country to the AGOA, effective January 1, 2023, per Presidential Proclamation dated December 23, 2022 (See link below.).
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2022/12/23/a-proclamation-to-take-certain-actions-under-the-african-growth-and-opportunity-act-and-for-other-purposes/
The AGOA waives duties on approximately 5,351 eligible tariff numbers for commodities from designated sub-Saharan AGOA beneficiary countries so long as those countries meet AGOA eligibility requirements including progress toward a free market economy, pluralism, due process under the law and other hallmarks of a democratic society.
Effective January 1, 2023, entries filed for commodities with country of origin of Burkina Faso (BF) and claiming AGOA (SPI D) duty free exemption will be denied. This includes goods withdrawn from a warehouse on or after January 1, 2023.
This termination also applies to textile and apparel goods as BF is also eligible to export certain textile and apparel goods that shall be treated as “handloomed and handmade articles” and qualify for preferential tariff treatment under section 112(a) of AGOA (Title I of the Trade and Development Act of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106-200), as amended.
Therefore, the following Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States provisional numbers will no longer be available for use for any textile or apparel imports from BF:
9802.00.8042; 9819.11.03; 9819.11.06 and 9819.11.30; 9819.11.09; 9819.11.12; 9819.11.15; 9819.11.18; 9819.11.21 or 9819.11.24 (Short Supply); 9819.11.27 (Folklore); or 9819.11.33 (Made-up goods).
In addition, all Post Summary Corrections (PSC) and 19 USC 1514 Protest of entries with country-of-origin BF requesting the AGOA (D) duty exemption must have entry date no later than December 31, 2022, to receive AGOA duty-free benefit and beginning January 1, 2023, PSC entries with country-of-origin BF claiming AGOA (D) duty exemption shall be rejected.
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CPSC Urges Consumers to Immediately Stop Using and Safely Store Butterfly Express Essential Oils, Including Wintergreen, Birch and Other Blends, Due to Failure to Meet Child-Resistant Packaging Requirements; Risk of Poisoning - Consumer Product Safety Commission
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning consumers to immediately stop using certain Butterfly Express essential oils. The products contain the substance methyl salicylate which must be in child resistant packaging as required by the Poison Prevention Packaging Act (PPPA). Butterfly Express’ packaging of the products that have been found to contain methyl salicylate is either not child-resistant or has not been properly tested to the child packaging regulation, posing a risk of poisoning if the contents are swallowed by young children.
Butterfly Express has manufactured and sold essential oils since 2010. The company has not agreed to recall the essential oils or offer a remedy to consumers.
CPSC evaluated Wintergreen, Birch, Le Sweet Relief, and Le EZ Traveler essential oils and determined each contains greater than 5% methyl salicylate, which requires the products to be in special packaging (commonly referred to as child resistant and senior friendly packaging). For certain sizes (20 mL, 240 mL, and 480 mL) of these products, the packaging is not child resistant. Other sizes of the products (10 mL and 50 mL) are in packaging for which the firm has failed to provide certification demonstrating the products meet the mandatory special packaging regulation (16 CFR § 1700.15). CPSC is aware of, but has not specifically tested the content of, other Wintergreen and/or Birch essential oil blends offered for sale online, that are similarly packaged and that may also contain greater than 5% methyl salicylate. Furthermore, CPSC is aware of these products being available in a “sample size” (6 mL) that also may not be child resistant.
These essential oils are sold by Butterfly Express at Butterfly Express and ButterflyExpress.net, and by Butterfly Express and other third-party sellers at Amazon.com, Walmart.com, eBay.com, and Healthandmed.com.
CPSC urges consumers to immediately stop use and store out of sight of children the Butterfly Express Wintergreen, Birch, Le Sweet Relief, and Le EZ Traveler essential oils. Consumers should not pour methyl salicylate down the drain. Consumers should contact their local hazardous waste disposal site for disposal instructions. Report any related incidents to the agency at www.SaferProducts.gov.
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CBP at JFK Seizes 10 Bricks of Cocaine - U.S. Customs & Border Protection
U. S. Customs and Border Protection Officers & K-9 discover cocaine in a Left-Over Bag
JAMAICA, N.Y. — The bag may have been forgotten by a traveler at John F. Kennedy International Airport, however U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers and K-9 still stopped this load of dangerous narcotics from entering the United States.
On December 19, a flight arrived from Guayaquil, Ecuador CBP officers and K-9 inspected all the checked-on luggage on the aircraft. CBP K-9 alerted on a particular duffel bag, which CBP officers x-rayed and noticed an anomaly. CBP officers probed all ten bricks revealing a white powder that tested positive for cocaine.
CBP seized the ten bricks of cocaine and turned it over to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for further investigation. The weight of the cocaine seized was approximately 24 lbs. with an estimated street value of $400,000.
This translates to approximately 70,000 doses (100-200 mg.), a lethal dose of cocaine is roughly one to three grams, so the amount seized by CBP and kept out of our neighborhoods would be roughly 5,500 lethal doses.
“CBP stands steadfast and determined in keeping these deadly drugs out of our neighborhoods and potentially killing our family, friends, and neighbors.” said Francis J. Russo, Director of CBP’s New York Field Operations. “CBP is stationed at the borders and ports of entry 24/7, 365 days a year with the mission of keeping the dangerous drugs out of the United States.”
This seizure is part of an ongoing investigation between CBP and HSI.