CBP, CPSC Sign Agreement to Promote Consumer Safety

(CBP)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum today [April 26] signed a memorandum of understanding for CBP’s Import Safety Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center. The MOU will allow CPSC personnel to access CBP commercial automated systems for import safety risk assessments.

“This is an important first step in strengthening our ability to promote consumer well-being and safety,” said Commissioner Bersin. “With this memorandum of understanding, CBP and the Consumer Products Safety Commission will be able to further protect consumers against the importation of dangerous goods into the U.S.”

The MOU gives CPSC the capability to conduct import safety risk assessments and perform targeting work using CBP’s Automated Commercial System.

“This cooperation between federal partners is making U.S. consumers more safe. By identifying and checking consumer products at our ports, we can reduce the flow of dangerous products into our homes,” said CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum.

The Import Safety CTAC reflects the three core principles announced by President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group in July 2009: prevention, surveillance and response. Created in March 2009, the Working Group was tasked with advising President Obama on how to upgrade the U.S. food safety system for the 21st Century.

CBP established the CTAC Oct. 1, 2009, as a fusion center for agencies to share targeting resources, analysis, and expertise to achieve the common mission of protecting U.S. citizens from unsafe imports. In addition to CBP, the government agencies represented at CTAC include the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service.

Related: Lawmakers Consider Bill to Address Problems with Product Safety Law (World Trade Interactive)

APHIS Delays Fee Hike

(Journal of Commerce Online – R.G.Edmonson)

Postponement until Nov.1 to give companies time to prepare

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced that an inspection fee increase will be delayed until November 1. The agency previously announced that the increase would take effect October 1. The delay will give companies that pay the fees more time to prepare for the new fees, APHIS said.

Last week APHIS announced agricultural quarantine and inspection fee increases averaging 10%. The agency said the increases were necessary to offset the loss of revenue due to reduced traffic volume at the border.

The announcement is in last week’s Federal Register.

New Import Requirements for Food Products Containing Small Amounts of Meat/Poultry

(World Trade Interactive)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued a notice April 14 advising importers of new requirements for imports of food products containing small amounts of meat or poultry. CBP notes that a Department of Agriculture import permit will now be required for all Food Safety Inspection Service-exempted food products containing small amounts (i.e., less than two percent) of meat and/or poultry ingredients.

Therefore, products such as bouillon cubes, extracts and soup mixes, which were previously allowed entry solely under a health certificate indicating that the product was concentrated by boiling, will now also require a USDA import permit. CBP will begin enforcing this new requirement on June 22.