2006

H.R. 6406, to modify temporarily certain rates of duty and make other technical amendments to the trade laws, to extend certain trade preference programs, and for other purposes, has passed both the House and the Senate and has been presented to the President for signature. Portions of the bill include:

Effective December 6, 2006, US Customs and Border Protection has implemented new guidelines for mitigation of penalties for merchandise delivered from the port without US Customs and Border Protection authorization or examination, and which affects public safety. In the past, many of these penalties had been mitigated to an amount of $2,500. New guidelines call for mitigations of:

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) had recently completed a significant review of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) based on recommendations of the World Customs Organization and other factors. The modifications which have been adopted by the ITC are intended to take effect in January 2007. The upcoming changes represent one of the most significant modifications made to the HTS in some years.

Implementation of the World Customs Organization (WCO) amendments to the 2007 HTSUS (outlined below) will likely be delayed until later in January or until February 2007. The President cannot proclaim the implementation of these amendments until a required 60 legislative day Congressional layover period is completed, and the amendments can not go into effect for at least 15 days after the Presidential proclamation is published in the Federal Register.

As reported in our September 2006 Newsletter, C-TPAT members are now required to update their security profiles annually through the C-TPAT Security Link Portal. CBP has published a Questions & Answers on the Security Link Portal on their website.

On October 13, 2006, President Bush signed the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act into law. The President’s remarks on the SAFE Port Act are quoted below, with highlights added:

CBP recently advised the importing community of the quickly approaching deadline for C-TPAT participants to update their security profiles on the agency’s new Portal website.

As of July 5, 2006, we are now into phase III implementation of the new regulations for wood packing materials (WPM). Immediate export of all shipments containing violative WPM will be ordered, at the Port Director's discretion, unless it can be determined that the CBP facility has the resources to safely supervise the separation of WPM from the goods, without adverse impact to the agency mission and entirely at the importer's expense. This not only includes goods in WPM infected with timber pests, but also goods in WPM lacking the proper IPPC marking.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) had recently completed a significant review of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) based on recommendations of the World Customs Organization and other factors. The modifications which have been adopted by the ITC are intended to take effect in January 2007. The upcoming changes represent one of the most significant modifications made to the HTS in some years.

As of July 1, 2006, the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) rates in Canada were reduced to 6% and 14%, respectively. The rates had been at 7% GST on most goods and services consumed in Canada, and 15% HST for the participating provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The following link to the Canada Revenue Agency online provides GST/HST Rate Reduction Info Sheets and GST/HST Rate Reduction Questions and Answers.

President Bush signed the "Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act" (H.R. 32) at a White House ceremony on March 16, 2006 to strengthen U.S. laws to combat the counterfeiting of goods.

President Bush signed the "Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act" (H.R. 32) at a White House ceremony on March 16, 2006 to strengthen U.S. laws to combat the counterfeiting of goods.

With the signing of the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005 (H.R. 3199) on March 9, 2006, the basic civil penalty for violation of the sanctions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which provided statutory authority for the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), has been raised from $11,000 to $50,000 per violation. In addition the sentence for individuals convicted of willful violations of the law has been increased from a maximum of 10 to a maximum of 20 years in prison.

The European Commission has approved a proposal to the European Union that would require a country of origin marking on certain products imported from outside the European Union.

The "Proposal for a Council Regulation on the indication of the country of origin of certain products imported from third countries" can be found at their website.