Customs and Border Protection Bureau July 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document proposes amendments to title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations (19 CFR) to reflect changes to the customs user fee statute made by section 337 of the Trade Act of 2002 and section 2004(f) of the Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act of 2004. The statutory amendments made by section 337 concern the fees payable for customs services provided in connection with the informal entry or release of shipments at express consignment carrier facilities and centralized hub facilities, and primarily serve to replace the annual lump sum payment procedure with a quarterly payment procedure based on a specific fee for each individual air waybill or bill of lading. Section 2004(f) amended the user fee statute to authorize, for merchandise that is formally entered at these sites, the assessment of merchandise processing fees provided for in 19 U.S.C. 58c(a)(9), in addition to the fees that are currently assessed on individual air waybills or bills of lading. Lastly, pursuant to the authority established in 19 U.S.C. 58c(b)(9)(B)(i), this document proposes to raise the existing $0.66 fee assessed on individual air waybills or bills of lading to $1.00 to more equitably align it with the actual costs incurred by CBP in processing these items.

Pursuant to section 641 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, (19 U.S.C. 1641) and Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations at section 111.30(d), the following Customs broker licenses are canceled without prejudice.

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 license is canceled with prejudice.

This document proposes new criteria to be used by the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to determine whether footwear should be considered to be ``commonly worn by both sexes'' (unisex) for tariff classification purposes under the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States. The rates of duty applicable to footwear ``For other persons'' (i.e. ``unisex'') are about 1.5 percent higher than the rates of duty applicable to footwear ``For men, youths and boys''. CBP is seeking comments from the public on its proposed criteria prior to adoption of a final interpretation.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is requesting individuals who are interested in serving on the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection and Related Homeland Security Functions (formerly known as the ``Commercial Operations Advisory Committee'' or ``COAC'') to apply for appointment. CBP will continue to use ``COAC'' as the acronym for this Advisory Committee. COAC provides advice and makes recommendations to the Commissioner of CBP, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Secretary of the Treasury on all matters involving the commercial operations of CBP and related DHS functions.

This rule proposes to amend existing Bureau of Customs and Border Protection regulations concerning electronic manifest transmission requirements relative to passengers, crew members, and non-crew members traveling onboard international commercial flights and voyages. Under current regulations, air carriers must transmit to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), passenger manifest information for aircraft en route to the United States no later than 15 minutes after the departure of the aircraft. This proposed rule implements the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 requirement that such information be provided to the government before departure of the aircraft. This proposed rule provides air carriers a choice between transmitting complete manifests no later than 60-minutes prior to departure of the aircraft or transmitting manifest information on passengers as each passenger checks in for the flight, up to but no later than 15 minutes prior to departure. The rule also proposes to amend the definition of ``departure'' for aircraft to mean the moment the aircraft is pushed back from the gate. For vessel departures from the United States, the rule proposes transmission of passenger and crew manifests no later than 60 minutes prior to departure of the vessel.