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Good morning and Happy Monday to everyone.
Please note that Customs and Border Protection will observe Labor Day, Monday, September 5, 2022, with the following hours of operation:
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
CBP officers will ascertain the quantity of goods imported, making allowances for shortages under specified conditions and assessing duty on any excess. The invoice may state the quantities in the weights and measures of the country from which the goods are shipped or in the weights and measures of the United States, but the entry must state the quantities in metric terms.
For each class or kind of merchandise subject to a separate statistical reporting number, the applicable information required by the General Statistical Notes, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), must be shown on the Entry Summary, CBP form 7501.
If the invoice or entry does not disclose the weight, gage, or measure of the merchandise, which is necessary to ascertain duties, the consignee must pay the expense of weighing, gaging, or measuring prior to the release of the merchandise from CBP custody.
To confirm your correct unit of measure please consult the attached Trade Interface Requirements manual.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Free Webinar: CTPAT Update with R.L. Jones and Zisser Group
Eduardo "Lalo" Acosta
R.L. Jones San Diego
8830 Siempre Viva Rd. #100
San Diego, CA 92154
(619)661-8182 ext 1100
(619)661-8181 Fax
Dear friends and customers,
The following is to inform you that pursuant to the General Notice (87 FR 46973) published August 1, 2022, adjustments to certain customs user fees and corresponding limitations, as codified in 19 U.S.C. § 58c, will take effect on October 1, 2022. These adjustments are being made in accordance with the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015 (FAST Act), Public Law 114-94.
The Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) ad valorem rate of 0.3464% will NOT change. The MPF minimum and maximum for formal entries (class code 499) will change. The minimum will change from $27.75 to $29.66; and the maximum will change from $538.40 to $575.35.
The General Notice for other fees that are changing may be accessed at the link below:
COBRA Fees To Be Adjusted for Inflation in Fiscal Year 2023
Please see the General Notice for the full list of fees that are changing. Another CSMS will be sent when the changes are in the ACE Certification environment for trade testing.
For more details, please refer to the following CBP message: CSMS #52834229 - Information on Customs User Fee Changes Effective October 1, 2022
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
Effective today, August 1, 2022, all Importers participating in the CTPAT program can see the CTPAT Trade Compliance link in their profiles. This link will allow eligible Importers to apply for the optional CTPAT Trade Compliance component of the CTPAT program. To be eligible to apply for the CTPAT Trade Compliance component, Importers must be either Tier II (validated) or Tier III (validated-exceeding) and must meet all additional program requirements, including the CTPAT Trade Compliance Forced Labor requirements.
Additional program information can be found here: CTPAT Trade Compliance | U.S. Customs and Border Protection (cbp.gov)
Questions regarding the CTPAT Trade Compliance program may be directed to CTPATTradeCompliance@cbp.dhs.gov
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Caltrans and SANDAG plan to open the new southbound State Route 125 (SR 125) to westbound State Route 905 (SR 905) connector ramp in Otay Mesa to traffic tomorrow.
Currently, vehicles traveling south from to SR 125 must exit via the Otay Mesa Road off-ramp and travel to La Media Road to access westbound SR 905 (please see map attached for reference). This creates travel delays, disrupts traffic flow, and increases greenhouse gas emissions from prolonged travel times and idling vehicles at stop lights. The new connector will provide a direct connection between southbound SR 125 and westbound SR 905, reducing travel times and improving corridor mobility and accessibility.
Good Afternoon All,
The following update is being provided for your awareness of the ongoing Manifestation/Protest in Tijuana affecting Both Northbound and Southbound Commercial Traffic:
The latest development from the protestors has shifted the ongoing protest West and has now impacted commercial Southbound traffic as MX ANAM has closed their Import Facility as of 1500 (PDT) . Export Facility will have trucks standing by, until further notice.
The Otay Mesa Port has begun notifications to state and local Police and CHP has issued a cautionary SIG ALERT as of 15:15 (PDT), as traffic will not be moving until the protestors have cleared. It is advisable that carriers of non-essential shipments please refrain from sending trucks until Mexico Import Facility is reopened, as would be informed in a follow up communication.
MX ANAM has shared with Port Management that negotiators are being sent to help end the protest, but CBP is unaware of how long the standoff will continue.
Northbound traffic has been entering into CBP Import Facility steadily as MX ANAM and local Tijuana Police were able to divert northbound traffic into secondary entrances to MX ANAM export facility. Calle Doce (12th Street) remains blocked. Wait times have not been able to be determined as traffic is not following it’s normal cueing via the Tijuana Export Corridor.
CBP and MX ANAM have been communicating throughout this unexpected event and will notify all once this is resolved.
Please feel free to share message with any interested parties.
Dear friends and customers,
We would like to inform you the following:
Purpose:
To establish uniform guidelines for the safe examination and handling of dangerous cargo to protect Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees, the public, and the environment from the hazards associated with its processing. In addition, to ensure compliance with all statutes and regulations (Federal, State, and Local) pertinent to hazardous materials.
The Port Information Notice replaces PIN #CLX2017-003, dated January 3, 2017.
Procedure:
Hazardous Material Importations:
- All drivers of Hazardous materials must be enrolled in the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program
- Importation of Hazardous materials will only be received on Thursday and Friday between the hours of 6:00 AM and 12:00 PM at the Calexico Commercial Facility.
- All paperwork for Hazardous Material Entries must be received no later than 12:00 PM the day prior to the importation.
Hazardous Material Exportations:
- Exportation of hazardous materials will be accepted Monday – Friday between the hours of 8:00 AM and 7:45 PM
Documentation Needed:
- All paperwork for hazardous material importations must be submitted no later than 12:00 PM on the day prior to the importation
- When a shipment contains more than one hazardous material, list the most dangerous item first.
- A CBP long form 3461 must be submitted along with the Safety Data Sheet (SDS)
The 3461 must contain the following information in sequential order:
- Identification Number
- Proper Shipping Name (avoid trade names)
- Hazard Class
For the material imported:
- Packing Group
- Total quantity of material
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Hope you have a great week. Here is a little useful information from CTPAT
Regards,
Eduardo “Lalo” Acosta
RL Jones San Diego
(619)881-8182 ext 1100
Dear friends and customers,
The following is to inform you that the Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2216 was created on July 11, 2022, and contains 40 ABI records and 8 Harmonized Tariff Records.
HSU 2206 contains A Proclamation: Increase of Certain Column 2 HTS Rates for Goods of Russia. Additional information can be accessed through the link below or by viewing the attached PDF: Increasing Duties on Certain Articles From the Russian Federation
Questions or concerns should be directed to Entry Summary, Accounts & Revenue Division (ESAR) at esar@cbp.dhs.gov
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
Attached please find Port Information Notice number CLX 2022-030 (PIN) issued by CBP Calexico Port informing the incorporation of the pilot program expanding the days for processing non- hazmat bulk shipments into the regular hours of operation beginning Saturday, July 9, 2022.
The below listed commodities will be alowed entry on weekends or Holidays:
Bulk Cargo
- Hay
- Sudden Grass
- Rolls of plastic in bulk form
- Hoppers containing bulk items, resin seeds, fishmeal, etc.
- Super Sacks filled on flat beds, or other methods of transportation
- Non- palletized merchandise
- Steel beams, structures, and fixtures
?This list is not all-inclusive you may have a different commodity that will fall into the Bulk Cargo area.
As usual, the below listed commodities will not be allowed entry on weekends or Holidays:
- Hazardous materials
- Commodities requiring visas or special permits
- Textiles
- Scrap material
- Inbonds with bulk/scrap or hazardous materials
- Vehicle exports
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
Attached please find Port Information Notice number CLX 2022-031 (PIN) issued by CBP Calexico Port informing the trade of a 6-month pilot program expanding the number of days for processing hazmat shipments. This change will take effect July 14, 2022 and conclude on January 13, 2023.
Hazmat days and hours of operation is as follows:
Thursdays and Fridays
6:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
Hazmat documents for review must be submitted on Wednesday prior to processing shipments.
6:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
Attached please find Port Information Notice number CLX 2022-032 (PIN) issued by CBP Calexico Port informing the incorporation of the pilot program expanding the hours for processing inbond shipments into the regular hours of operation beginning Tuesday, July 5, 2022.
Southbound inbond hours are as follows:
Monday- Friday
8:00 a.m.- 5:30 p.m.
Saturday
10:00 a.m.- 3:30 p.m.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
The following is to inform you that the U.S. is increasing import tariffs on hundreds of goods from Russia and imposing a number of additional sanctions against that country in response to its ongoing war against Ukraine.
Under an April 2022 law that revoked permanent normal trade relations status for (and thus increased tariffs on) imports from Russia, President Biden has issued an executive order that, effective July 27, will further increase to 35 percent U.S. import tariffs on more than 570 groups of goods from Russia. The annex to the proclamation that will list the affected goods is not yet available, but the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it includes steel and aluminum; minerals, ores, and metals; chemicals; arms and ammunition; wood and paper products; aircraft and parts; and automotive parts.
Other measures the U.S. intends to take in the near future include the following.
- Adding companies “engaging in backfill activities in support of Russia” to the Entity List, which will prohibit those companies from purchasing U.S.-made goods and technologies
- Imposing blocking sanctions against (1) major Russian state-owned defense enterprises, defense research organizations, and other defense-related entities and (2) persons tied to aiding Russia’s efforts to evade U.S. sanctions
- Issuing an alert to financial institutions to aid in detecting potential violations of export controls
For more information, please refer to U.S. Further to Increase Tariffs, Impose More Sanctions on Russia.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
The following is to inform you about the following FDA requirements:
FSVP Requirement For Entry filings:
Beginning July 24, 2022, FDA will end its temporary policy of permitting use of the entity identification code “UNK” in place of the DUNS number for importers in the Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP).
The entry will be rejected If “UNK” is transmitted for the entity number after July 24, 2022. If you have not shared your company’s DUNS number yet, please provide it to us, so we can update our database.
If you still do not have a DUNS number, please refer to the below links.
For more information, refer to the updated Guidance for Industry: Compliance with Providing an Acceptable Unique Facility Identifier for the Foreign Supplier Verification Programs for Food Importers Regulation: Guidance for Industry
Related Messages: CSMS# 51738135 & CSMS# 52290094
DUNS Requirement for FDA Registration:
The FDA is further extending the time period to obtain and submit a UFI until December 31, 2022.
The requirement to include a UFI began during this past biennial registration renewal period and was introduced in accordance with the 2016 rule implementing the food facility registration provisions in the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act. The requirement applies to both new facilities registering for the first time, and those submitting a registration renewal. The UFI will be used by FDA to verify that the facility-specific address associated with the UFI is the same address associated with the facility’s registration. At this time, the FDA recognizes the DUNS number as an acceptable UFI for food facility registration.
Get your DUNS Number free of charge:
For US Entity: https://www.dnb.com/duns-number/get-a-duns.html
For MX Entity: https://www.cialdnb.com/es/numero-d-u-n-s/
More information of the FDA period extension.
FDA Extends Flexibility for Unique Facility Identifier Requirement for Food Facility Registration through December 2022.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCBP/bulletins/31de22e?reqfrom=share
Dear friends and customers,
This is to inform you that U.S Customs and Border Protection has released an importer guidance to assist the trade community in preparing for the implementation of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which imposes a rebuttable import ban on materials or inputs from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region effective June 21.
This guidance is intended to complement the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force’s strategy guidance and UFLPA entity list expected to be published on June 21. Below are some of the highlights.
- Importers have 30 days after a detention (unlike the three months provided under the withhold release order process) to provide CBP with clear and convincing evidence that proves that the goods were not made with forced labor.
- CTPAT members may benefit as CBP will attempt to prioritize their UFLPA exception requests.
- Importers may identify additional shipments that have identical supply chains to those that have been reviewed previously and determined to be admissible by CBP to facilitate faster release of identical shipments.
- Importer should be cautious of factories that have dual sources of raw materials since it will be harder to prove no commingling.
- This guidance advises what information may be required by CBP when an entity requests an exception. If an exception is approved, CBP would need to notify Congress and the public.
- Companies are encouraged to identify all entities in their supply chains and trace records related to the production of goods all the way to the material source; this will ensure that they do not import any goods made, in whole or in part, by forced labor, especially from the Xinjiang Region.
Please be aware that this CBP guidance document is intended to provide operational guidance to trade stakeholders and complements the UFLPA strategy guidance. Importer must comply with the importer guidance within UFLPA strategy. UFLPA, Section 3(b).
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
The following is to inform you that beginning June 29, 2022, the U.S. Commerce Department (Commerce) Aluminum Import licensing applications will require both fields of “country of largest smelt” and “country of second largest smelt.” Commerce defines the field for the country of smelt for the largest (and second largest) volume of primary aluminum as the country where the largest volume of new aluminum metal is produced from alumina (refined aluminum oxide) by the electrolytic Hall-Héroult process. Based on public comments in response to the preliminary rule, in the final rule, it was determined that importers/brokers would need time to gather the required information for the countries of smelt and a grace period was granted for these fields; importers were permitted to indicate “unknown” for one year upon implementation of the regulations.
Commerce extended the temporary period to allow for license applicants to state “unknown” in the fields for country(ies) of smelt for the largest and second largest volume of primary aluminum until June 28, 2022. Commerce will begin requiring the requested information for these fields for license applications on or after June 29, 2022, meaning that filers may no longer state “unknown” for these fields after that date.
For more information, please visit the Aluminum Import Monitoring (AIM) website at: Aluminum (trade.gov) and CSMS #52046238.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
The following is to inform you that the U.S. will ban imports of all goods made in whole or in part from any good from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China effective June 21. Companies should be finalizing efforts to ensure their supply chains do not include such goods.
President Biden signed into law Dec. 23, 2021 the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), which effectively deems all goods mined, produced, or manufactured in the XUAR to be produced by forced labor in China. Even companies not importing directly from China may have goods detained if the materials used to produce the imported goods in a second country are tied at any level to XUAR or specific entities or commodities associated with forced labor in China.
Under the UFLPA, imports of goods from the XUAR will be banned unless CBP determines that:
- The importer of record has fully complied with relevant guidance to be provided by CBP, as well as any regulations issued to implement that guidance;
- The importer has completely and substantively responded to all inquiries for information submitted by CBP to ascertain whether the goods were made wholly or in part with forced labor; and
- By clear and convincing evidence, the goods were not made wholly or in part by forced labor.
If a shipment is detained, Importers of Record will have the option to exclude the shipment, meaning the importer will have to export shipment out of the United States, or to request an exception to the rebuttable presumption and will have 30 days to submit complete documentation proving shipment complies with Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force (FLETF) Importer Guidance and that it has a clean supply chain, free of forced labor. CBP’s level of evidence will be high. It will be more controlled and consistent than WRO´s.
Any good from the XUAR that thus overcomes the rebuttable presumption of being made with forced labor will be included in a public list to be issued by CBP 30 days after making such determination.
Importantly, the UFLPA calls for the Task Force to provide guidance to importers with respect to the following.
- Due diligence, effective supply chain tracing, and supply chain management measures to ensure they do not import any goods made with forced labor from mainland China and especially from the XUAR
- The type, nature, and extent of evidence that demonstrates that goods originating in mainland China were not made wholly or in part in the XUAR
- The type, nature, and extent of evidence that demonstrates that goods originating in mainland China, including goods detained or seized pursuant to Section 307, were not made wholly or in part with forced labor
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
Dear friends and customers,
This is to inform you that on March 23, 2022, USTR announced the Reinstatement of Certain Exclusions from China Section 301 Tariffs. This determination reinstates 352 of the 549 eligible exclusions; it will apply retroactively to October 12, 2021, and extend through December 31, 2022.
Your company may have imported products that are eligible for this exclusion. Please identify your products HTSUS classification numbers in the list of qualifying exclusions and determine if your products meet the corresponding scope description in order to qualify. If your HTSUS is listed, it does not necessarily mean that it qualifies.
We have attached an Excel spreadsheet with the HTSUS classification numbers that are eligible for these exclusions, and a copy of the Federal Register notice for your reference. U.S. Customs and Border Protection will issue instructions on entry guidance, and we will work with you to implement these instructions.
The reinstated exclusions are available for any product that meets the description in the product exclusion. In particular, the scope of each exclusion is governed by the scope of the ten-digit HTSUS subheadings and product descriptions in the Annex to the notice (this is contained in the attached Excel spreadsheet). The reinstated exclusions will apply to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on October 12, 2021, that are not liquidated or to entries that are liquidated, but within the period for protest described in section 514 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended.
For more details, please refer to the following link: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCBP/bulletins/3115bf2?reqfrom=share
If you have any questions please feel free to contact our offices.
Sincerely,
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2022
Contacts:
For PMA, news@pmanet.org, 415-576-3244
For ILWU Coast Longshore Division, Jennifer Sargent Bokaie, (503) 703-2933
PMA and ILWU Continue Talks on a New Labor Agreement as the Existing Contract Expires
SAN FRANCISCO (July 1, 2022) - Negotiations for a new labor contract covering more than 22,000 dockworkers at 29 West Coast ports will continue to move forward as the existing current coast-wide labor agreement expires today at 5:00 p.m. PST.
While there will be no contract extension, cargo will keep moving, and normal operations will continue at the ports until an agreement can be reached between the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) and the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU).
Both sides understand the strategic importance of the ports to the local, regional and US economies, and are mindful of the need to finalize a new coast-wide contract as soon as possible to ensure continuing confidence in the West Coast.
The coast-wide labor contract is between employers who operate port terminals and shipping lines represented by the PMA and dockworkers represented by the ILWU. The parties have negotiated a West Coast collective bargaining agreement since the 1930s.
Sincerely,
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