CUSTOMS SEEKS TO AMEND USER FEE, NAVIGATION FEE RULES

CUSTOMS SEEKS TO AMEND USER FEE, NAVIGATION FEE RULES    U.S. Customs plans to redefine its term of “arrival” to clear up confusion regarding user fees assessed on vessel transportation industry.
   The agency currently defines arrival as “being an arrival that occurs within a port of entry in the Customs territory of the United States.” Customs said “this definition or arrival is overboard and conflicts with a more suitable definition of arrival” and “clearly does not mean to require the assessment of a user fee at every location serviced by Customs.”
   Customs wants to redefine arrival “as occurring at any place within the limits of a Customs port of entry or at a designated Customs station.” A Customs station is a location other than a port where the agency’s officers may enter and clear vessels, accept entries of merchandise, collect duties, and enforce various rules.
   The agency said the new arrival definition would conform with the government’s user fee rules and would simplify the collection of user fees by listing the specific location where fees would apply.
   Customs also proposes to require reimbursement for services rendered by Customs at any location which is not a port of entry or station. Navigation fees are currently collected to cover services used by the agency to arrive commercial vessels of more than 100 net tons at ports of entry or designated Customs stations.
   The agency will take comments from the industry about the proposed rules through July 2. For more information, contact Kimberly Nott of Customs’ Office of Field Operations, at (202) 927-1364.