Recent News & Articles

Every year, Customs and Border Protection publishes any updates to their user fees that take effect in the new fiscal year, which for the government is October 1st. In FY 2021, CBP announced by Federal Register notice on July 29th that the following increases are forthcoming. Minimum Merchandise Processing Fee: $27.23 Maximum Merchandise Processing Fee: …

Published on August 2, 2019, in the Federal Register, Customs and Border Protection announced new fee levels for a number of things which affect importers, specifically the minimums and maximums for merchandise processing fee (MPF) for formal and informal entries. The minimum merchandise processing fee for a formal entry is now $26.79. The maximum merchandise …

While the dispute between the United States and the European Union has raged for years at the World Trade Organization, a final decision by a WTO arbitrator on Wednesday paved the way for the USTR to announce a raft of punitive duties on imports from certain EU countries effective October 18th. The abbreviated version of …

This month, CBP announced via a Federal Register Notice an upward adjustment to the Merchandise Processing Fee and Harbor Maintenance Fees collected at the time of entry. In December, 2015, the passage of the FAST Act (Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act) provided for CBP to make adjustments to user fees in accordance with increases in …

On July 29th, Customs and Border Protection finally published their long-awaited guidance on how they would handle refunds of GSP entries. GSP, you will recall, was lapsed for two years because of lack of Congressional support. Supporters of GSP were concerned because when the program had lapsed previously, the re-authorization legislation always provided retroactive refunds. In …

Customs and Border Protection has a busy year in 2015; there are many new programs, new technology and additional initiatives they are rolling out to the trade. Here are three important Customs changes to keep in mind this year. CBP is transitioning to ACE from ACS. CBP continues to progress with the plan to develop …

The regulations of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) require that domestic and foreign facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food for human or animal consumption in the U.S. register with the FDA. The registration period is open from October 1st through December 31st of every even-numbered year. Registration is once again open. …

This week, our industry’s national trade association, the NCBFAA, held their annual Government Affairs Conference. This is when Customs brokers and freight forwarders from around the United States travel to Washington to hear from both the lawmakers and the government agencies what the current climate is for legislation that impacts our industry. On Tuesday, we …

When the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Program expired on July 31, 2013, last year, members of the trade believed that the legislation would be renewed with retroactive benefits, weeks or months later, as it had in past years. Fast forward to today, and GSP has still not been renewed.  This is posing a problem …

During his overseas trip in March, the President made several stops, including one in Brussels to consult with leaders of the European Union on creating a trading block. The Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, if enacted, would open both markets to each other products, but there are still some serious hurdles to overcome. Both …