On December 9, 2022, The World Trade Organization (WTO) issued four rulings stating the violation of Articles I, II, XI and XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in U.S. Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs. The three person WTO panel stated the tariffs enforced in 2018 [...]
Customs Border Protection (CBP) will introduce progressive resources on their website to comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). The tools are expected to be available in early 2023 and will provide support to U.S. importers as they evaluate the potential of forced labor in their supply chain. [...]
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) at over 15 U.S. airports went on strike to improve working conditions after safety claims were filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHRA). U.S. AIRPORTS ON STRIKE Formal strikes are planned for Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Boston Logan [...]
During the peak of the pandemic, free time extensions were granted within service contracts between ocean carriers and shippers. As demand and cargo volumes increase, these extensions are becoming less manageable from an ocean carrier standpoint. Free time extensions are expensive given the use of space, adding to delivery problems [...]
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently announced their collaboration with government agencies to pilot a single identifier solution called the GBI program – Global Business Identifier. The pilot works to create current trade processes in order to provide the U.S. Government with higher quality data to optimize the facilitation [...]
COAC REJECTS VESSEL MANIFEST DATA CONFIDENTIALITY PROPOSAL In a report released this week, the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) announced it will not proceed with a proposal to automatically make ocean vessel manifest data confidential. This decision is one of several under the 21st Century Customs Framework (21CCF) [...]
U.S. EXTENDS SECTION 301 COVID-RELATED AND MEDICAL PRODUCT TARIFF EXCLUSIONS The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced today that the Biden Administration is extending Section 301 Tariff exclusions on 81 medical and COVID-related products. The exclusions were set to expire on November 30, 2022, but now extend through February [...]
CBP FORCED LABOR BENEFITS ADDED TO CTPAT TRADE COMPLIANCE PROGRAM Effective November 18, the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) offers new forced labor benefits to its CTPAT Trade Compliance partners (Partners). "[We are] excited to announce the addition of three benefits for its Partners," said Manuel Garza, Jr., Director [...]
CTPAT TRADE COMPLIANCE HANDBOOK UPDATED WITH FORCED LABOR REQUIREMENTS U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) released updates to its Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) Trade Compliance Handbook on November 1. The new version revises language on disclosure benefit and contains new sections of program requirements including those related to [...]
PORT HOUSTON IMPOSES SUSTAINED IMPORT DWELL FEES Effective December 1, 2022, Port Houston will begin charging sustained import dwell fees on containers to ease port congestion. Loaded import containers on the terminal beginning December 1, 2022, and thereafter are subject to the sustained import dwell fee. Beneficial Cargo Owners (BCO) [...]
