GHY Tradelines

(Mondaq International Law)br /br /The comment period has just closed on a proposal published last July in which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) suggested significant changes to the way in which the country of origin is determined for goods subjected to processing in more than one country (see previous alert a href=”http://www.mondaq.com/redirection.asp?article_id=70990amp;company_id=21370amp;redirectaddress=http%3A//www.blankrome.com/index.cfm%3FcontentID%3D37%26itemID%3D1647″ target=”_blank”here/a for more information). The proposed changes would affect not only such CBP issues as country of origin marking and duty rates, but also, potentially, government contracting, coastwise trade, and numerous other areas of commerce. Instead of continuing to employ a case-by-case analysis to determine whether a good undergoes a “substantial transformation” in a particular country – a technique dating back approximately a century – CBP has suggested a “tariff-shift”-based codification (currently used for NAFTA country-of-origin-marking purposes) that, according to CBP, would greatly improve the administration of the law by eliminating subjectivity and uncertainty, by promoting transparency and predictability, and by aiding importers’ exercise of reasonable care.br /br /Judging from the scores of comments submitted by the twice-extended December 1, 2008 deadline, CBP appears to be quite alone in that view. The criticism leveled at CBP’s proposal falls essentially into three broad categories: (1) opposition to extending tariff shift principles to areas of the law where, contrary to CBP’s suggestion, doing so would be illegal, would overturn existing law, or both; (2) opposition to applying the tariff shift rules as written where, contrary to CBP’s assurance, the new rules will produce a result at odds with the body of law they were expected to codify; and (3) opposition in general to the proposed implementation of new rules on multiple grounds, including substantially increased costs, uncertainty, and burden on members of the trading community; substantially increased complexity; and abysmally poor timing. Read the complete article a href=”http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=70990″here/a.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(American Shipper – Chris Gillis)/spanbr /br /Express carriers voiced concern this week that the World Trade Organization and World Customs Organization appear to be “retreating” on a previous commitment to eliminate national mandates for companies to file import declarations to customs administration via customs brokers. The Brussels-based Global Express Association told the heads of the WTO and WCO in a December 2 letter that the use of customs brokers should not be a requirement for companies to interact with national customs administrations.br /br /“Mandated use of the services of a favored professional group is a symptom of and contributor to political corruption,” warned John P. Simpson, director general of the association, which represents UPS, FedEx, DHL and TNT.br /br /Express carriers, with their capacity as both transporter and importer, believe they are technologically and regulatory sophisticated enough to interact with customs administrations directly. “Customs brokers can provide highly valuable services and many importers choose to use the services of customs brokers even when they are free to submit their own declarations,” he added. “But customs brokers like all other professionals should rely on the market for their business, not government coercion. Governments should not be in the business of mandating use of private commercial services.” Read more a href=”http://www.americanshipper.com/SNW_story.asp?news=111146″here/a.

span style=”font-size:85%;”(CBSA)/spanbr /span style=”font-size:85%;”/spanbr /strongD3-1-7/strong Revised: Customs Self Assessment Program for Carriersbr /Paragraph 12 was amended – electronic version only. Go a href=”http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d3/d3-1-7-eng.html”here/a.br /br /strongD17-1-7/strong Revised: Customs Self Assessment Program for Importersbr /Modification made to Appendix C – electronic version only. Go a href=”http://www.cbsa.gc.ca/publications/dm-md/d17/d17-1-7-eng.html” target=”_blank”here/a.