19 CFR Part 151, Subpart A - General

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.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published an Interim Final Rule (CBP Dec. 15-14) on October 13, 2015, in the Federal Register, which amends the CBP regulations to reflect that on November 1, 2015, the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) will be a CBP-authorized Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) System. That document erroneously included language in Amendatory Instruction 38 that was not consistent with the text of the existing CFR. This document corrects the text in Amendatory Instruction 38.

This document amends the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations to reflect that on November 1, 2015, the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) will be a CBP-authorized Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) System. This regulatory document informs the public that the Automated Commercial System (ACS) is being phased out as a CBP-authorized EDI System for the processing electronic entry and entry summary filings (also known as entry filings). ACE will replace the Automated Commercial System (ACS) as the CBP-authorized EDI system for processing commercial trade data. This document also announces the conclusion of the ACE Cargo Release and the Entry Summary, Accounts and Revenue tests with regard to the entry and entry summary requirements that are now part of the CBP regulations.

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.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on February 22, 2012, proposing various changes to the in-bond regulations to enhance CBP's ability to regulate and track in-bond merchandise and to ensure that the in-bond merchandise is properly entered and duties are paid or that the in-bond merchandise is exported. In that document, CBP published a summary of its analysis under the Regulatory Flexibility Act and stated that the complete Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) was posted on the regulations.gov Web site. As CBP inadvertently failed to post the IRFA on the docket when the NPRM was published, CBP is notifying the public that the IRFA has now been posted and is seeking comments on the conclusion in the NPRM and the IRFA that the rule may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

This document amends, on an interim basis, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations pertaining to importations of merchandise bearing recorded trademarks or recorded trade names. The interim amendments, effective upon publication in the Federal Register , allow CBP, subject to limitations, to disclose to an intellectual property right holder information appearing on merchandise or its retail packaging that may comprise information otherwise protected by the Trade Secrets Act, for the purpose of assisting CBP in determining whether the merchandise bears a counterfeit mark. Such information will be provided to the right holder in the form of photographs or a sample of the goods and/or their retail packaging in their condition as presented to CBP for examination and alphanumeric codes appearing on the goods. The information will include, but not be limited to, serial numbers, universal product codes, and stock keeping unit (SKU) numbers appearing on the imported merchandise and its retail packaging, whether in alphanumeric or other formats. These changes provide a pre-seizure procedure for disclosing information about imported merchandise suspected of bearing a counterfeit mark for the limited purpose of obtaining the right holder's assistance in determining whether the mark is counterfeit or not.