Bureau of Customs and Border Protection August 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document sets forth interim amendments to title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) that prescribe special entry requirements applicable to certain softwood lumber and softwood lumber products exported from any country into the United States. The softwood lumber and softwood lumber products subject to these interim entry requirements are those described in section 804(a) within Title VIII (Softwood Lumber Act of 2008 or ``the Act'') of the Tariff Act of 1930, as added by section 3301 of Title III, Subtitle D, of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Pub. L. 110-246, enacted June 18, 2008). Within Title VIII, section 803 requires the President to establish and maintain an importer declaration program with respect to the importation of certain softwood lumber and softwood lumber products and prescribes special entry requirements whereby importers must submit the export price, estimated export charge, if any, and an importer declaration with the entry summary. There are also new recordkeeping requirements applicable to certain imports of softwood lumber home packages and kits which are subject to declaration requirements, but which are not subject to the softwood lumber importer declaration program of section 803 of the Act. These interim amendments set forth the procedural and documentation requirements necessary to implement the entry requirements specified in the statute.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is currently conducting a pilot international registered traveler program, referred to as Global Entry, at three airports. This document announces the expansion of the pilot to four additional airports and to additional terminals at one of the airports at which Global Entry is currently operational.

This document proposes to amend title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations by prescribing alternative procedures by which payers of the quarterly harbor maintenance fee (HMF) may submit their payments or refund requests to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) electronically via an Internet account established by the payer and located at https://www.pay.gov. CBP will continue to accept quarterly HMF payments or refund requests via mail. It is also proposed to clarify the regulations to state that each HMF quarterly payment, whether paper or electronic, must be accompanied by a CBP Form 349 (HMF Quarterly Summary Report). The changes proposed in this document are intended to provide the trade with expanded electronic payment/refund options for quarterly HMFs and to modernize and enhance CBP's port use fee collection efforts.