19 CFR Part 133 - TRADEMARKS, TRADE NAMES, AND COPYRIGHTS

This document provides an additional 60 days for interested parties to submit comments on the interim final rule that amended the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations establishing the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (“Centers”) as a permanent organizational component of the agency and transitioning certain additional trade functions to the Centers. The interim final rule was published in the Federal Register on December 20, 2016, with comments due on or before January 19, 2017. To have as much public participation as possible in the formulation of the final rule, CBP is extending the comment period to March 20, 2017.

This document proposes amendments to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations pertaining to the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Specifically, CBP is proposing amendments to implement a section of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 which requires CBP to prescribe regulatory procedures for the donation of technologies, training, or other support services for the purpose of assisting CBP in intellectual property enforcement. The proposed regulations would enhance CBP's intellectual property rights enforcement capabilities.

In 2012, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) developed a test to incrementally transition the operational trade functions that traditionally reside with port directors to the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (Centers). The purpose of the test was to broaden the ability of the Centers to make decisions by waiving certain identified regulations to the extent necessary to provide the Center directors, who manage the Centers, with the authority to make the decisions normally reserved for the port directors. At this time, CBP is prepared to end the test and establish the Centers as a permanent organizational component of the agency and to transition certain additional trade functions to the Centers. This rule amends the CBP regulations on an interim basis to implement this organizational change by: Defining the Centers and the Center directors; amending the definition for port directors to distinguish their functions from those of the Center directors; identifying the Center management offices; explaining the process by which importers will be assigned to Centers; providing the importer with an appeals process for its Center assignment; identifying the regulatory functions that will be transitioned from the port directors to the Center directors and those that will be jointly carried out by the port directors and the Center directors; and providing clarification in applicable regulations that payments and documents may continue to be submitted at the ports of entry or electronically.

This document adopts as a final rule, with changes, proposed amendments to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations that serve to centralize the processing of continuous bonds at CBP's Revenue Division within the Office of Administration. Upon consideration of comments received from the public in response to the proposed rulemaking, and in light of CBP's ongoing efforts concerning the development of electronic bonds, CBP has determined not to proceed at this time with certain proposed regulatory changes relating to the application, approval, and execution of bonds. CBP has also determined not to proceed with proposals relating to provisions that are the subject of other rulemakings currently under inter-departmental review. In the notice of proposed rulemaking, CBP used the terms “CBP-approved electronic data interchange system” and “electronic filing” to describe the manner by which continuous bonds may be submitted to CBP. In this final rule, these terms are clarified to reflect that continuous bonds may be scanned and submitted to CBP as an email attachment, or by facsimile. This document also amends the CBP regulations to allow for the filing of single transaction bonds pursuant to these methods. In this rulemaking, CBP also clarifies the CBP regulations to reflect that intellectual property rights sample bonds are posted to protect the importer or owner of the sample, and changes provisions of the international carrier bond regarding the payment of fees. Lastly, this final rule adopts non-substantive amendments to the regulations regarding nomenclature and organizational changes, including editorial changes to enhance general readability, and makes technical corrections to reflect statutory amendments.

This document adopts as a final rule, with changes, interim amendments to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations pertaining to importations of merchandise bearing suspected counterfeit trademarks or trade names that are recorded with CBP. Specifically, the amendments allow CBP, for the purpose of obtaining assistance in determining whether merchandise bears a counterfeit mark, to disclose to a trademark or other mark owner information appearing on merchandise or its retail packaging that may otherwise be protected by the Trade Secrets Act. This final rule also amends the CBP regulations to further enhance information-sharing procedures by requiring CBP to release to the importer an unredacted sample or image of the suspect merchandise or its retail packaging any time after presentation of the suspect goods for examination. This change is to reflect that an importer may not have complete information about the marks appearing on imported goods, and release of such unredacted information will assist the importer in providing CBP with a meaningful response to a detention notice. The amendments in this final rule also require CBP to release limited importation information to the mark owner no later than the time of issuance of the detention notice to the importer, rather than within 30 business days from the date of detention. Finally, these amendments require CBP to notify the mark owner that use of any information otherwise protected by the Trade Secrets Act that is disclosed by CBP to the mark owner is for the limited purpose of assisting CBP.