Bureau of Customs and Border Protection September 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces changes in the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) National Customs Automation Program (NCAP) test concerning periodic monthly deposit of estimated duties and fees. Participants in the Periodic Monthly Statement test are no longer required to provide a bond rider covering the periodic payment of estimated duties and fees. Nonpayment or untimely payment of estimated duties and fees, however, may result in action by CBP to impose sanctions on the delinquent importer of record or to allow the surety to terminate its basic importation bond. If the bond principal is a participant in the Periodic Monthly Statement test, sureties will now be allowed, under certain conditions, to terminate bonds with 3 business days notice to the bond principal and CBP.

Pursuant to section 641 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, (19 U.S.C. 1641) and the Customs Regulations (19 CFR 111.51), the following Customs broker permits are cancelled without prejudice.

This document amends Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations by making technical corrections to certain authority citations to reflect amendments to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States effected by the President's Proclamation of December 30, 2003, to implement the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement.

Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), nonimmigrant aliens and United States citizens are generally required to present passports to enter the United States. The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State have the joint authority to waive this requirement for nonimmigrant aliens under certain circumstances and the Secretary of State has the authority to make exceptions to the requirement for United States citizens. In accordance with those authorities, current regulations permit United States citizens and nonimmigrant aliens from Canada, Bermuda and Mexico to enter the United States from certain Western Hemisphere countries without presenting a passport. On December 17, 2004, the President signed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (IRTPA). Section 7209 of this statute limits the Secretaries' discretion to waive or to make exceptions to the passport requirements under the INA and expressly provides that, by January 1, 2008, United States citizens and nonimmigrant aliens may enter the United States only with passports or such alternatives as the Secretary of Homeland Security may designate as satisfactorily establishing identity and citizenship. In the future, as a result of the implementation of the new statute, travel to the United States by United States citizens and others from the Western Hemisphere will require a passport or acceptable alternative documents in circumstances where travel was previously permitted without such documents. Section 7209 directs that the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, develop and implement a plan relating to the new requirements ``as expeditiously as possible.'' The statute provides that this plan shall be implemented no later than January 1, 2008. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, will be deciding how to implement the new law. This Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking announces the rulemakings that are expected to implement the new law, invites comments on the possible means of implementation and specifically invites comments on the documents other than passports that should be accepted under section 7209 as sufficient to establish citizenship and identity.

The Department of Homeland Security, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, CBP invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on an information collection requirement concerning the Documents Required Aboard Private Aircraft. This request for comment is being made pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13; 44 U.S.C. 3505(c)(2)).