BIS Update Conference on Export Controls

Date:  May 14-15, 2018

Location:  Washington, DC  

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) will hold the 31st annual BIS Update Conference on Export Controls and Policy.  This major outreach activity draws business and government representatives from around the world to learn and exchange ideas about export control issues.  It is one of the Department’s most notable international trade events.

Registration will be opening soon.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

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WEBINAR:  2018 NCSD Webinars Training Schedule

Date:  April 2018 – June 2018    

Time:  varies

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Trade Relations, is proud to announce in support of the Trade Facilitation and Enforcement Act, the National Commodity Specialist Division will be providing the trade community with 40 educational webinars, each focused on a specific commodity and presented by the respective National Import Specialist.

Please click HERE for the training schedule.  (INSERT TRAINING SCHEDULE HERE)   ​

CLICK HERE FOR THE TRAINING SCHEDULE (PDF)

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Question of the Day:  If a shipment is made in Japan and exported to the United States then later exported to China, what is the country of origin of the cargo?  

Did you know that the country of origin will still be Japan regardless of the length of time the cargo remains in the United States?  According to CFR 19 Part 102 Rules of Origin says that the origin of a product is the country of manufacture, production or growth of the article.  If the cargo was not manipulated, the country or origin remains the same.

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Does your imported merchandise require antidumping or countervailing duties?  

An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value. Dumping is a process where a company exports a product at a price lower than the price it normally charges on its own home market. To protect local businesses and markets, many countries impose stiff duties on products they believe are being dumped in their national market.

U.S. Customs has an ADD/CVD searchable database to retrieve up-to-date case information and commodity specific information regarding outstanding cases.

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As of Monday March 20, 2018 JAS Forwarding (USA) is now assisting CBP and TSA on its initiative to provide enhanced security for air cargo coming into the United States.  The Air Cargo Advanced Screening (ACAS) initiative was created by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to gather data concerning the parties and commodities involved in air cargo prior to its loading on an aircraft at a foreign port. The initiative is currently in the pilot phase allowing CBP to collaborate with the air cargo industry to determine the most effective means of achieving the desired regulatory results without affecting the speed of air cargo operations.

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​Effective January 10, 2018, U.S. exporters to Israel are no longer required to provide Israeli authorities a hard copy Certificate of Origin (commonly referred to as the “Green Form” or “Form A”). Instead, U.S. exporters are required to include a signed declaration on the invoice, delivery note, or on any other commercial document for export shipments.

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In early March, the White House signed an order that imposes additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from all foreign countries with several countries exempt until April 30th.  The stated reason supporting these safeguards is the “failure of countries to agree on measures to reduce global excess capacity and the continued high level of imports since the beginning of the year.”

In the case of steel, “steel articles” are subject to an additional 25% duty and in the case of aluminum, “aluminum articles” are subject to an additional 10% duty effective March 23, 2018.    This is effective as of 12:01 am, eastern daylight time on March 23, 2018 for goods entered or withdrawn from a warehouse for consumption.  

​An amendment was made on March 23rd exempting several countries from the additional steel and aluminum tariffs through April 30th.

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On March 22, 2018 the omnibus spending bill was passed in the House and Senate that includes provisions to renew the Generalized System of Preferences.  The bill has also been signed by the President and will be back in effect by April 23, 2018.  As part of the Omnibus spending bill, Congress has approved a three year extension of the GSP program (until December 31, 2020).  The extension retroactively authorizes GSP claims back to January 1, 2018.

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