 In The Press |
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| LA Truck Fee |
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| The article below was taken from THE JOURNAL OF COMMERCE website Updated September 25, 2008 1:19:00 PM The JOURNAL of COMMERCE ONLINE The Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday announced that it will delay collection of the $35 per-TEU clean-truck fee to give programmers more time to set up the computer system for the collection of fees. The neighboring Port of Long Beach on Tuesday had announced that it was pushing back the Oct. 1 start date for fee collection two or three weeks, also to give the computer programmers more time to finish their work. However, both ports on Oct. 1 intend to implement other components of the clean-trucks programs, including a ban on all pre-1989 trucks and a requirement that motor carriers secure port-issued concession agreements. Port of Los Angeles spokeswoman Theresa Adams Lopez said that as of Wednesday motor carriers have committed to their harbor fleets about 1,500 new trucks that meet federal Environmental Protection Agency 2007 emissions standards. As an interim measure until the computer program is developed, the ports intend to issue stickers for all trucks that have been cleared to operate in the harbor. |
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| In The Press Test |
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| First Sale Declaration |
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| First Sale declaration during grace period (08/20/08-09/19/08) must be reported per attached instruction to CBP. First Sale Declaration Expected to be Required as of August 20, 2008 CBP officials state that they will have to publish an interim rule shortly, as the first sale information will be required as of August 20, 2008. CBP also plans to issue instructions to the trade regarding the new requirement and amend the Customs and Trade Automated Interface Requirements (CATAIR). (The Farm Bill states that the requirement to provide first sale information (i.e., the first sale declaration) is effective for the one-year period beginning 90 days after the date of enactment (May 22, 2008) of the Farm Bill.) ITC to Allow CBP to Use its CM Program Sample to Meet Transaction Value Reporting Requirements CBP and the ITC have reached an agreement that will allow CBP to utilize its existing compliance measurement (CM) program sample to obtain the transaction value information it needs to report to the ITC (and which the ITC will subsequently report to Congress). Each year CBP uses this CM program sample, which consists of 70,000 randomly selected entries, to gauge general trade compliance. Since CBP does not currently collect data regarding transaction value, CBP will be revising its CM program sample process so that it can collect one additional piece of information – whether transaction value was the basis of appraisal. CBP officials emphasize that it is important for the trade to provide CBP with the transaction value information it requests because the ITC has agreed that it will not require CBP to obtain transaction value information for 100 million entry lines annually if it can extrapolate from the statistically valid CM program sample to meet the Farm Bill's reporting requirements. (In January 2008, CBP published a notice of proposed interpretation to require that the price paid by the buyer in the U.S. to the foreign distributor form the basis for valuation in a series of sales importation scenario. Congress included in the Farm Bill a provision which stated that it is the "sense of Congress" that the CBP Commissioner should not implement a change to CBP's interpretation of the term "sold for exportation to the U.S." for purposes of applying the transaction value of the imported merchandise in a series of sales, before January 1, 2011. The Farm Bill further stated that it is the "sense of Congress" that beginning on January 1, 2011, the CBP Commissioner may propose to change or change CBP's interpretation of the term ‘‘sold for exportation to the United States’’ only if CBP consults with and gives prior notice to the appropriate congressional committees and COAC and receives explicit approval of the Treasury Secretary prior to publishing a change. |
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| Mexico to Eliminate or Reduce Most AD Duties on Imports from China |
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| Mexico to Eliminate or Reduce Most AD Duties on Imports from China Mexico and China have signed an agreement under which Mexico will immediately eliminate or reduce nearly three-quarters of the antidumping duties it currently maintains against imports from China. The agreement was signed by Mexican Minister of Economy Eduardo Soto and Chinese trade minister Chen Ming after six months of negotiations, and it must now be approved by the Mexican Senate before it can take effect. Some industries are protesting the deal and are seeking ways to challenge it. Once the agreement is implemented, 73 percent of Mexico’s AD duties on imports from China (covering 749 tariff lines) will immediately be lowered or lifted entirely. This action will cover products such as textiles, apparel, footwear, toys, bicycles, strollers, tools, electrical appliances, electronic devices, chemical products, valves and locks. For example, tariffs will be reduced from 1,105 percent to 100 percent for footwear, 533 or 379 percent to 140 percent for apparel, 501 percent to 110 percent for certain thread, and 312 percent to 120 percent for tools. The remaining 27 percent of the AD duties (covering 204 tariff lines) will remain at their current levels until Dec. 11, 2011, when they will be removed. The two sides agreed to this transition period in order to allow Mexican producers of these “sensitive” products (including lamp ballasts, candles, pencils and lighters) more time to adjust to competition from China. As part of its accession to the World Trade Organization in December 2001, China agreed to let Mexico maintain for an additional six years the AD duty orders it had in place against Chinese products at that time, which were not imposed in accordance with WTO rules. Although Mexico faced a Dec. 11, 2007, deadline for ensuring that these orders met WTO requirements, it had only launched a review of the issue by that date. However, beginning in November 2007 Mexican and Chinese officials held several rounds of talks on the matter, reaching the outline of an agreement in April and finalizing the details in May. |
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| ACE Accounts Inactive for 45 Days May Be Suspended Beginning May 25, 2008 |
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| ACE Accounts Inactive for 45 Days May Be Suspended Beginning May 25, 2008; ACE Accounts Inactive for 45 Days May Be Suspended Beginning May 25, 2008 On May 22, 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (Customs, CBP) issued Cargo Services Messaging System Message (CSMS) # 08-000090 announcing that beginning the week of May 25, 2008, CBP will begin suspending accounts of Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) portal users who have not logged in to ACE for more than 45 days. According to the CSMS message, a Federal Register notice published on May 16, 2008 stated that “one of the conditions for portal access addresses the failure of the Trade Account Owner, the Proxy Trade Account Owner or any Trade Account User to access the ACE Portal for a period of ninety (90) days consecutively.” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guidelines reduced the allowable inactivity period from 90 days to 45 days. “Failure to access the ACE portal within the prescribed time period will result in the suspension of access to the ACE Portal,” the message said. Users may restore access by contacting the ACE Help Desk. |
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| CBP To Require Bolt Seals For All In-Bound Containers |
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| Effective October 15, 2008, U.S. Customs will require that all freight containers in transit to the U.S. by ship, rail or truck have bolt seals that meet the ISO PAS 17712 standard. This mandate is pursuant to the 2007 amendment to the Safe Port Act, which required this step if DHS and CBP did not issue an interim final rule on minimum container security standards by April 1, 2008. Since an interim rule was not issued by that date, the language of the 2007 Safe Ports Act amendment provides as follows: (i) effective not later than October 15, 2008, all containers in transit to the United States shall be required to meet the requirements of International Organization for Standardization Publicly Available Specification 17712 standard for sealing containers. Customs is likely to provide for exceptions to the bolt seals requirements for containers which cannot accommodate seals (e.g., tanks, open-topped containers), and Customs has indicated that air shipments are not intended to be included in the mandate. The main impact of this new requirement will be on importers who are not C-TPAT certified, since C-TPAT importers must currently use seals which meet or exceed the current ISO PAS 17712 standard. Customs is expected to issue a June 2008 notice to the trade regarding these requirements but Customs did not indicate whether comments will be accepted. |
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| Containerized exports surge at ports of LA/LB |
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| Containerized exports continued to surge in April while imports languished in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Los Angeles, the nation’s largest container port, reported an increase of 19.5 percent in containerized exports in April compared to the same month a year ago. Exports in Long Beach, the second-ranked container port, increased 35 percent compared to April 2007, according to information posted on the ports’ Web sites. Imports, however, continued the downward trend that started in the second half of 2007, down 10.9 percent in Los Angeles and 7.5 percent in Long Beach on-year. Since imports outnumber exports in Southern California by more than two to one, both ports reported a decline in total cargo volume, by 10.9 percent in Los Angeles and 3.9 percent in Long Beach. The numbers also reflect a steep decline in empty containers. That development is a reflection of the strong export market as many containers that used to be returned empty to Asia are now being sent back with cargo. Global Insight and the National Retail Federation, publishers of the monthly Port Tracker, project weak imports at all U.S. ports through August. Port Tracker projects that U.S. imports will increase slightly in September. |
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| Staten Island NY terminal NYCT easing truck jam |
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| New York Container Terminal announced Monday it is taking a number of steps to ease truck congestion at its terminal on Staten Island . The congestion is caused by the rapid increase in export loads, which have increased by 85 percent over the past several months. In a message to motor carriers from NYCT’s Chief Executive, Jim Devine, the terminal will extend its gate hours from a normal 6 p.m. closing to a targeted 9 p.m. closing with full receiving and delivery up through 8 p.m. In addition, NYCT is taking the following steps immediately: -- Changing its internal procedures to assign an additional checker to any import stacks that have been blocked rather than grounded in the normal configuration. The statement said the additional checker will be working the truck line asking truckers what boxes they are scheduled to pick up in specific areas so that the toploader driver is aware of what boxes are pending delivery and therefore will not “bury them” only to have to dig them out again. -- Moving long-standing empties off-dock to a remote area in order to make more land available for the better segregation of inbound loads. -- Reinstalling the former bobtail lane whereby drivers will move to an additional workstation in order to be routed. This will be in addition to the existing bobtail lanes. -- Working with both Port Authority police and New York City police to better control the traffic flow to and from the facility. -- Changing its working pattern so that more toploaders are available during gate hours to service both the delivery of inbound loads and the grounding of export loads. The terminal said it also is taking a number of longer-term steps to improve traffic flow, including: -- Installing additional bobtail podiums adjacent to the terminal off Western Avenue over the next six to eight weeks so that it can segregate the bobtail lanes and thus have more queuing space for returning loads and empties. -- Ordering additional material handling equipment such as top loaders, in order to better service the truck line. -- Reviewing how quickly it can upgrade the gate-processing system in order to process trucks faster. |
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| Truckers Protest in Oakland |
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| Operations at the Port of Oakland and the Union Pacific rail ramp at Lathrop, Calif., continue to be hampered by a shortage of truck capacity due to protests by independent drivers over the high cost of fuel. Some protestors engaged in intimidating tactics, such as throwing bricks at drivers who attempted to enter the port, further compounding the driver shortage problem. "These are renegade protestors moving from terminal to terminal," said Dick Coyle, chief executive of Devine Intermodal. Cargo-handling operations have been affected sporadically over the past several days, said Gay Joseph, general manager of marine administration and finance at the Port of Oakland. For example, traffic flow was normal Wednesday morning, but as the day wore on more protestors showed up and truck traffic dropped off, he said. All marine terminals are keeping their gates open and the Oakland Police Department is patrolling the harbor area and keeping protestors outside of the terminal gates, Joseph said. Nevertheless, a number of drivers chose not to return to the port Wednesday afternoon due to the actions of protestors, he said. The protestors distributed flyers in the harbor demanding that shipping lines and cargo owners pay higher fuel surcharges and higher freight rates. |
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| Customs unable to collect antidumping duties, GAO says |
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| Although importers owe more than $600 million in antidumping and countervailing duties, Customs and Border Protection can’t collect the largest share because the importers have disappeared, have no assets or declared bankruptcy, the Government Accountability Office reported on Wednesday. The congressional watchdog agency found that 26,000 importers owe the government antidumping or countervailing duties, but the average bill is skewed upward because a small number of companies owe very large bills. For half of the unpaid bills, the average amount was $309. Antidumping or countervailing duties are surcharges added to normal duty rates to correct unfair market competition with U.S. companies. Importers are charged after the Commerce Department determines that the goods are being sold below the market price in the exporting country, or they have been subsidized by a foreign government. The GAO said only four products accounted for 84 percent of antidumping/countervailing charges: crawfish tail meat, garlic, honey and mushrooms imported from China. Ninety percent of all uncollected antidumping/countervailing duties involve imports from China. Broken down by industry, 87 percent of the total bill is from agriculture and aquiculture products. Steel imports accounted for another 7 percent. Congressional auditors also said that importers doing business with new shippers overseas were at the greatest risk for incurring antidumping/countervailing duties. The GAO recommended that Congress consider ways to improve the reporting of antidumping and countervailing duties, or revising the process the government uses to assess them. It also recommended that Customs change its bonding procedures so importers post enough to cover the potential charges. The report may be found online at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08391.pdf |
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| Registration/Pre-Registration under EU REACH Program for Chemical Imports Begins June 1, 2008 |
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The European Commission has issued a press release reminding enterprises that manufacture in or import into the European Union one ton or more per year of any chemical substance1 that they must register or pre-register those substances beginning June 1, 2008. (This requirement is part of the EU's new2 REACH program which combines the elements of Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals to better protect human health and the environment from the hazards of chemicals.) The EC has issued this reminder because it is concerned that some companies are still unaware of the scope or the specific requirements of REACH or believe that the program does not affect them, especially if they are not part of the chemicals sector. Highlights of REACH and Its Registration/Pre-registration Process The following are highlights the first element of REACH, the Registration and pre-registration of chemical substances, as outlined in an EC press release and question and answer document. Scope. REACH covers all chemical substances manufactured in or imported into the EU, in quantities of one ton or more per year. The registration requirement under REACH is for chemical substances only. However, the provisions of the regulation apply to the manufacture, placing on the market or use of substances on their own, in preparations or in articles. (Note that substances in food and medicine are covered by separate EU legislation; natural substances are also exempt from registration under REACH, if they are not dangerous and have not been chemically modified.) New substance registration. Mandatory registration for new substances begins June 1, 2008. The EC previously stated that the registration requirement applies to substances on their own, in preparations and in articles under special conditions (intentional release). Failure to register means that the substance can not be manufactured, imported, or used in the EU market. Phase-in substance “pre-registration”. Phase-in substances (see definition below) are allowed to register by 2010, 2013 or 2018, depending on the quantities produced or imported, as long as they are “pre-registered” during the period starting June 1, 2008 and ending December 1, 2008. Phase-in chemical substances that are not pre-registered by December 1, 2008, will not be able to be manufactured in or imported into the EU until the full registration dossier is submitted. Substances fulfilling at least one of the following criteria are “phase-in” substances: • substances listed in the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS) • substances that have been manufactured in the EU (including accession countries) but have not been placed on the EU market after June 1, 1992 • substances that qualify as a so-called "no-longer polymer" Foreign firm representation. Companies that manufacture substances, formulate preparations or produce articles outside the EU cannot register/pre-register substances. However, they can nominate an “Only Representative” established within the EU to carry out the required registration/pre-registration of their substances that are imported into the EU. The EU-based importers are then relieved from the duty to register/pre-register. Registration components. A registration of a chemical substance will include: (i) compilation and assessment of the hazard properties of the substance and its conditions for safe use; (ii) submission of this information to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA); and (iii) payment of the relevant registration fee. Pre-registration components. A pre-registration consists of the substance name/identifiers, company information, envisaged registration deadline, tonnage band and potentially an indication of related substances that can help assessment of the substance. Pre-registration is free of charge. 1The EC estimates that there are currently about 30,000 chemical substances (e.g. acids, metals, solvents, surfactants, glues) in the EU market above one ton. 2REACH entered into force on June 1, 2007. |
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