For those who thoughts CBP's "measured and commonsense" approach for those that weren't fully complying with the Importer Security Filing (ISF or 10+2) rules would last forever, think again! Effective...
At today's Import Operations Training, sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Florida Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association (FCBF), top officials from FDA traveled to Miami to educate importers and brokers. Topics ranged from a general overview of FDA compliance, TOP rationales for FDA detentions, Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA) updates, an overview of the newly re-organized (now DIO) Division of Import Operations (formerly DIOP - policy has now been removed), an overview of CBP & FDA's Joint Team 488 - which handles liquidated damages claims for underlying FDA violations and much more. Highlights of the TOP rationale for detentions follows...
As of January 9, 2013, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is making procrastinators pay the price for filing untimely petitions that seek relief from liquidated damages. CBP amended it's guidelines for the cancellation and mitigation of claims for liquidated damages in cases where petitioners are late in filing claims for relief. Additionally, CBP also changed the formula for calculating late petition mitigation...
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a report criticizing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In a June 2011 report entitled "Efficacy of Customs and Border Protection's Bonding Process," DHS concluded that up to $12 billion in single transaction bonds for importers may fail to be collected. Considering that approximately $2 trillion of goods are imported into the United States each year, and that CBP collects about $32 billion in duties, taxes, and fees, $12 billion is a heck of a lot of money to lose.