Monday Morning eBriefing

It is with profound sadness that NCBFAA notifies our membership of the recent passing of Commodore “C.” Harvey Monk, Jr., in Clayton, North Carolina, on July 31. He was 78. During his tenure as the Census Bureau Foreign Trade Division Chief, Monk led the development of the Automated Export System (AES) during the 1990s and early 2000s until his retirement in 2010. Harvey was highly engaged with NCBFAA on AES matters over the years and was a frequent speaker at the Annual and Government Affairs Conferences until his retirement.

NCBFAA on Aug. 21 submitted comments to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) related to the agency’s June 25 Federal Register notice which proposed revisions by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NFMS) to the Certification of Admissibility (COA) form under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Specifically, the NCBFAA Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) welcomes the NOAA/NMFS’ proposal to automate the COA process.

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) on Aug. 21 announced an update to its Import Federal Order to further protect the U.S. from potato wart (Synchytrium endobioticum). These updates mainly affect U.S. facilities that import bulk shipments of potatoes from Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada, for processing, packaging, and repackaging.

The NCBFAA Customs Committee AD/CVD Working Group has officially rolled out critical updates to its AD/CVD Certification Tool (Note: Regular Member credentials required to access). Designed to help customs brokers, freight forwarders, and importers successfully navigate complex trade compliance mandates, the latest matrix incorporates a series of recent regulatory updates and anti-circumvention determinations.

The 2026 NCBFAA Government Affairs Conference at the JW Marriott in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 27-29 offers an amazing opportunity to member attendees to learn about timely and critical industry changes influenced by Capitol Hill lawmakers, the White House, and federal regulators. However, Regular Member attendees are also strongly encouraged to stay through Wednesday, Sept. 30, to attend the onsite Customs Committee meeting from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. ET and the Regulatory Agencies Committee (RAC) meeting with the PGAs from 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said it is modernizing ACE ocean, rail, and air manifest systems over several releases, with the second release of this enhancement (INT-061) being a technical migration of back-end functionality for the rail mode of transportation.

A summary of the latest customs and cross-border trade regulatory updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Customs Counsel firm Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg.

On behalf of NCBFAA's Board of Directors, Leadership and Staff, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and welcome Allister Lines and Pilot Aiship Tech Co., which have recently joined our association. We're so excited to have these firms join our organization and we are happy to assist in any way we can!

A summary of the latest legislative and regulatory transport, logistics and trade sector updates brought to you by our NCBFAA Transportation Counsel firm Venable.

USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) on Aug. 19 published a Federal Register notice announcing its intent to revise and extend a previously approved information collection, titled “National Organic Program: Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE).” This information collection covers necessary documentation for the continued enforcement of the SOE final rule, such as import certificates.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Miami Region has published a solicitation for applications to operate a Centralized Examination Station (CES) in the Miami seaport. The solicitation period started Aug. 18 and will last through Oct. 17.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Aug. 14 created Harmonized System Update (HSU) 2620 which contains 16 harmonized tariff records and 53 Automated Broker Interface (ABI) records. Specifically, HSU 2620 contains the Quartz Surface Products Quota HTS updates.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) advises customs brokers to use the ACH Rejected Refunds Report (REV-613) report in the ACE Reports tool to help importers identify any refunds that have been rejected due to missing Automated Clearing House (ACH) enrollment. CBP said importers also have the option to run the REV-613 report to determine whether any potential refunds have been rejected.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a Federal Register notice on Aug. 19 that the agency is taking “initial steps” to implement Executive Order 14411 “Strengthening Customs Enforcement.” Specifically, the agency is enhancing enforcement procedures to verify the accuracy of the information provided by new and existing importers of record on the CBP Form 5106, consistent with Executive Order 14411 and governing statutes.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) notified the trade on Aug. 18 of the following correction: HTSUS classifications 9903.05.01 associated with Section 301 Duties on Certain Products from Brazil and 9903.05.20-9903.05.84 associated with Section 301 Forced Labor Import Duties are drawback eligible. On Aug. 12, CBP deployed updates to the validations for FD07 to disallow drawback for these HTSUS classifications.

One month after the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) certificate eFiling launch, the feedback the RAC has received is mostly positive, Overall, the implementation is proceeding fairly smoothly. Pain points still exist, but major upheaval did not occur. Included here are some of the issues that still need to be addressed.

At the Steel Identification, Classification, and Trade Law Seminar in Los Angeles/Long Beach on August 4-5, 2026, CBP provided the following tips covering new section 232 rules, chapter heading 9903.82.01, and CAPE refund bills.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is pleased to announce the selection of 27 stakeholders to participate in the Reimbursable Services Program (RSP), as provided for under Section 481 of the Homeland Security Act, 2002. The Reimbursable Services Program is a key component of CBP’s public-private partnerships and is an opportunity for us to proactively work with stakeholders and communities to identify business solutions for a variety of border management needs.

David Cummins on Friday, Aug. 7, was sworn in as Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), following his recent confirmation by the U.S. Senate. In May 2026, President Trump nominated Cummins to head TSA and lead a workforce of approximately 60,000 employees and the security operations at more than 430 airports across the U.S.

The Treasury Department on Aug. 10 published a current list of countries which require or may require participation in, or cooperation with, an international boycott, including Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen.