USTR Issues FRN asking for Comments for Extending Exclusions on List 1 The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) issued a Federal Register Notice (FRN) on Monday asking for comments to extend for possible 12 more months the exclusions on list 1 that are due to expire on October 2, 2020. There are 3 lists of exclusions that are due to expire on October 2, 2020. The exclusions for list 1 that were granted on October 20, 2019, December 17, 2019 and February 11, 2020 will be under review. The comment period has opened and comments are due by August 30, 2020. The FRN has complete instructions on how to file requests for extensions. Extensions for exclusions do not have to filed by the party that made the original request for the extension. Any affected individual may file for an extension. The FRN for the extension requests can be found by clicking here.
USTR Extends Some Expiring Exclusions from List 2 The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative issued a Federal Register Notice on July 30th for exclusions from List 2 that were set to expire on that day. 14 products were granted exclusion extensions that will expire on December 31, 2020. The FRN can be found by clicking here.
CBP Has Postponed the Trade Symposium and Will Have A Virtual Trade Week U.S. Customs and Border Protections (CBP) has announced it postponed this year’s Trade Symposium until March 2021. The tentative dates are March 23rd and 24th. The location will still be at the Hilton Anaheim, only a few blocks away from Disneyland. In the meantime, CBP has also announced that it will be putting on a virtual Trade Week from September 8 through September 20, 2020. The registration is not open yet and the agenda is not published as of now. The link to this announcement can be found by clicking here.
CBP Announced Increases in User’s Fees U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a Federal Register Notice announcing the increases for Cobra Fees. This includes an increase in the entry processing fees. The maximum amount for the Merchandise Processing Fees (MPF) for formal entries will increase to $528.33 and the minimum MPF will increase to $27.53. The percentage rate for MPF that are in between the minimum and maximum will not increase, just the maximum and the minimum. The fee increase will go into place on October 1, 2020. The FRN can be found here.