Laurie Arnold Vice President Compliance for JAS Forwarding (USA) Inc. was elected as the Treasurer to the National Customs Brokers & Freight Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) at the 49th Annual NCBFAA conference in Tucson AZ on May 2nd.  The NCBFAA is a national membership headquartered in Washington DC that represents more than 1,000 member companies with over 110,000 employees in international trade-the nation’s leading freight forwarders, customs brokers, ocean transportation intermediaries, NVOCC’s and air cargo agents, serving more than 250,000 importers and exporters. The NCBFAA established in 1897, is the effective national voice of the industry. The association keeps a close eye over legislative and regulatory issues affecting the international trade community.

 Laurie has served the last 3 years as the Legislative Committee Chair for the NCBFAA, working with the congressional offices on a variety of issues, including the America Competes Act currently in congress. The America Competes Act (HR4521) covers multiple areas including the Illegal Fishing & Forced Labor Prevention Act (SIMP) and Import Security & Fairness Act. Working on The Customs Business Fairness Act (CBFA) HR4816 by far is where her passion shows. She was instrumental in having the language from this bill included in the Cares Act of 2020. The provision provided customs brokers a year reprieve of being required to return any customs duty received from the importer and provided to US Customs as a pass through if the importer filed bankruptcy. While the provision did expire at the end of 2021, she has remained committed to making the CBFA permanent. Laurie is looking forward to serving in her new role as the Treasurer for the NCBFAA.

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CBP has announced that they will be sending “Known Importer Letters” to all importers known to have imported goods that may be subject to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). These letters are being sent to encourage importers to review their supply chain and identify any potential forced labor issues within. The UFLPA “establishes a rebuttable presumption that the importation of any goods, wares, articles, and merchandise mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China” will not be allowed into the United States. CBP will be sending the Known Importer Letters before the rebuttable presumption goes into effect on June 21st. CBP is also encouraging importers to review their supply chain even if they do not receive a Known Importer Letter.  

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On April 1st, the Court of International Trade issued an opinion stating that the USTR acted within its rights when implementing lists 3 and 4A of the Section 301 Tariffs. The plaintiffs in the case suggested that lists 3 and 4A violated the Trade Act and should be removed because these tariff lists were in retaliation to new Chinese tariffs on US goods, and not based in the original USTR Section 301 report.

They also suggested that the lists were unlawful because USTR did not start a new Section 301 investigation before implementation. The CIT found that the new lists were not in violation of the 1974 Trade act as alleged, but they found that the USTR did not follow the Administrative Procedure Act because they did not properly respond to the public comments on lists 3 and 4A. The case has been remanded to the Office of the USTR, allowing an opportunity for them to explain the reasoning behind the implementation of these lists. The USTR has been given until June 30th to provide this information.

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CBP has released their monthly statistics for March. See the trade highlights below:

• Processed over 3.1 million entry summaries valued at over $337 billion.
• Collected $9 billion in duties.
• Seized 10,583 shipments that contained over $1.5 billion of counterfeit goods.

The report includes statistics on international travel, border enforcement, drug seizures, agricultural seizures, and CBP’s response to COVID 19. The report also includes links to previous reports and year-over-year comparisons. 

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Ahead of the upcoming guidance on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), it is strongly recommended that all importers review their supply chain to ensure that their goods are not being made with forced labor. CBP has a FAQ section for the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region that covers Withhold Release Orders, proof of admissibility, and best practices. The Due Diligence/Best Practices section has extensive resources that you can apply when reviewing your supply chain. The UFLPA will be going into effect on June 21st, so be sure to do your due diligence as soon as possible.

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CBP Risk Analysis and Survey Assessment – The CBP Audit Transformation

May 10th, 2022
2:00 PM ET - 3:00 PM ET
1 CCS Credit

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