U.S. Customs and Border Protection August 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Each year, the tariff-rate quota for tuna described in subheading 1604.14.22, Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS), is calculated as a percentage of the tuna in airtight containers entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption during the preceding Calendar Year. This document sets forth the tariff-rate quota for Calendar Year 2018.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to CBP regulations, that Saybolt LP (Linden, NJ), has been approved to gauge petroleum and certain petroleum products and accredited to test petroleum and certain petroleum products for customs purposes for the next three years as of February 6, 2018.

This document corrects a proposed regulation in a notice of proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register of August 2, 2018, regarding Modernized Drawback. Specifically, CBP inadvertently proposed in 19 CFR 190.32(d)(2) an exemption for drawback claims for wine which included an imprecise reference to the entirety of paragraph (b). The reference should have been only to paragraphs (b)(1) and (b)(2), the specific paragraphs regarding the ``lesser of'' rule. As is evident from the entirety of the proposed rule, paragraph (b)(3), which implements the statutory prohibition on double drawback, applies to all drawback claims for wine. This technical correction remedies a clerical error that occurred when the language of paragraph (b)(3) was moved from a different part of the proposed regulations.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to CBP regulations, that Intertek USA, Inc. (Sulphur, LA), has been approved to gauge petroleum and certain petroleum products and accredited to test petroleum and certain petroleum products for customs purposes for the next three years as of May 10, 2017.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to CBP regulations, that SGS North America, Inc., has been approved to gauge and accredited to test petroleum and petroleum products for customs purposes for the next three years as of February 2, 2018.

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to CBP regulations, that SGS North America, Inc., has been approved to gauge and accredited to test petroleum and petroleum products for customs purposes for the next three years as of March 2, 2018.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection 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 of 1995 (PRA). The information collection is published in the Federal Register to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies.

This document proposes to amend U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to implement changes to the drawback regulations as directed by the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA). These proposed regulations establish a new process for drawback pursuant to TFTEA which liberalizes the merchandise substitution standard, simplifies recordkeeping requirements, extends and standardizes timelines for filing drawback claims, and requires the electronic filing of drawback claims. TFTEA allows a transition period wherein drawback claimants will have the choice between filing claims under the existing process detailed in the current regulations or filing claims under the proposed new process. This document explains how filings during the transition period will work, discusses the interim policy guidance procedures for filing claims prior to these regulations becoming final, and proposes to make TFTEA-related changes, dealing with bonds, regarding joint and several liability for the importer of the goods and the drawback claimant, and technical corrections and conforming changes to CBP regulations. This document also proposes to clarify the prohibition on the filing of a substitution drawback claim for internal revenue excise tax paid on imported merchandise in situations where no excise tax was paid upon the substituted merchandise; or the substituted merchandise is the subject of a different claim for refund or drawback of tax under any provision of the Internal Revenue Code. CBP is proposing these amendments regarding excise taxes to protect the revenue by clarifying the relationship between drawback claims and Federal excise tax liability. Further, CBP proposes to add a basic importation and entry bond condition to foster compliance.