U.S. Customs and Border Protection October 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document amends the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to reflect that the mail room servicing the Director, National Commodity Specialist Division, Regulations and Rulings, in the Office of Trade, has relocated within New York, and a new location has been established to receive non-electronic correspondence. E-rulings procedures will remain the same and are not affected by the change in office location.

In this Federal Register, DHS is publishing a final rule titled ``Establishment of the Electronic Visa Update System (EVUS)'' (hereafter ``EVUS Final Rule''), amending 8 CFR part 215, subpart B, to establish the Electronic Visa Update System and to specify certain requirements. According to the rule, nonimmigrant aliens who hold a passport issued by an identified country containing a U.S. nonimmigrant visa of a designated category will be required to provide biographic and other information to DHS by enrolling in EVUS to maintain the validity of those visas. The EVUS final rule specifies that the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may identify countries and designate nonimmigrant visa categories for purposes of the EVUS requirements and that notice of identified countries and designated nonimmigrant visa categories will be published in the Federal Register. Through this notice, the Secretary of Homeland Security, after consultation with the Secretary of State, identifies the People's Republic of China (PRC) as an EVUS country and designates B-1, B-2, and B-1/B-2 visas issued without restriction for the maximum validity period, which is generally 10 years,\1\ as designated visa categories when the visas are contained in a passport issued by the PRC.

This document proposes to amend the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to reflect that official notice of liquidation, suspension of liquidation, and extension of liquidation will be posted electronically on the CBP Web site. This document also proposes regulatory revisions to reflect that official notice of liquidation will no longer be posted at the customhouses or stations and that official notices of suspension of liquidation and extension of liquidation will no longer be mailed. Additionally, this document proposes to make certain technical corrections to the CBP regulations.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the Department of Homeland Security will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act: NAFTA Regulations and Certificate of Origin (CBP Forms 434, 446, and 447). CBP is proposing that this information collection be extended with a change to the burden hours. There is no change to the information collected. This document is published to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies.

On August 30, 2016, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing plans to make the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) the sole electronic data interchange (EDI) system authorized by the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for processing electronic drawback and duty deferral entry and entry summary filings. The changes announced in that notice were to have been effective on October 1, 2016. This notice announces that the effective date for the transition to ACE as the sole CBP-authorized EDI system for electronic drawback and duty deferral entry and entry summary filings is delayed until further notice.