In August 2008, a piece of America’s aviation history, the Douglas AD-4N Skyraider*, reentered its home territory under false pretenses, which ultimately led U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to seize the aircraft nearly a year later. Import and export of military aircraft and other defense articles generally requires a license or permit under the Arms Export Control Act […]
The Export Administration Regulations (EAR), at Part 736, General Order No. 2 of Supplement No. 1, prohibits export of all items covered by the EAR to Syria unless they are licensed shipments of food or medicine. This broad prohibition applies to all goods within the United States or U.S.-origin goods abroad, regardless of whether they are identified on the EAR’s […]
CBP, at the URL below, has posted new guidance concerning customs bond policies and procedures. It notes that the Continuous Transaction Bond program has been centralized at CBP’s Revenue Division in Indianapolis, Indiana. All continuous and term bond submissions, including continuous ISF bonds, along with requests for terminations and bond riders, must be submitted via email to cbp.bondquestions@dhs.gov. Details concerning […]
Due process requires that a professional license, such as that held by a Customs broker, cannot be revoked by an issuing agency without a hearing. The Regulations take this into account and provide for certain procedural safeguards that protect a broker from arbitrary license revocation. However, what about a broker’s filer code? That issue was brought before the Court of […]
The Obama Administration’s ongoing effort to simplify the complex maze of export regulatory regimes, dubbed the Export Control Reform initiative, has given rise to a proposed amendment to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”), published by the Department of State on August 11, 2010. The ITAR generally prohibits the unlicensed export of defense articles, data and services, unless an […]
Importers that have contested CBP decisions are familiar with the protest process. In essence, a protest is a filing through which an importer challenges a CBP decision and advances legal arguments to further its cause. Importers that are familiar with the protest process may also be familiar with the seemingly endless wait that often must be endured between the filing […]
Most trade intermediaries are familiar with the antiboycott provisions contained in Part 760 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). These regulations prohibit U.S. persons’ participation in or cooperation with the Arab League’s ongoing boycott of Israel. Subpart (d) of Part 760.2 prohibits the furnishing of certain information about a U.S. person’s business relationships with boycotted countries such as Israel, or […]
On June 2, 2010, in Honda of America Mfg., Inc. v. United States, the Federal Circuit shed light on a question that occasionally stumps those in the trade community, namely: When should a part be classified under the HTSUS independently, and when should it be classified as a part of a larger item for which it is intended to be […]
In 2008, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act became law. To implement the Act’s mandate to develop targeting methods to improve consumer safety, CBP and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have joined together to create the Import Safety Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center (CTAC), a CBP facility that, according to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, will both “centraliz[e] and strengthen[] […]
Did you know that contested customs duties must be paid before a protest denial can be challenged in court? On May 6, 2010, the Court of International Trade (“CIT”) issued a decision that illustrates the importance of properly paying duties in advance of filing suit. The plaintiff in Great American Insurance Company v. United States, a surety, sought to judicially […]