Customer Advisory: U.S. Compliance Update

• The United States Trade Representative (USTR) Modifies Certain Aspects of Section 301 Ships Action October 20, 2025, Comments Due November 12, 2025. The notice, due to be published in the Federal Register after the effective date, does allow vessels where fees are changing, to defer payment of the fees from October 14 through December 10, although some of the fees may have been paid already, per prior notification.

• U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Initiates Section 232 Investigation into Imports of Various Products. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is now accepting public comments on the September 2025 Cycle of Section 232 Inclusion Requests from October 7 through October 21, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. The posted Section 232 Inclusion Requests and their requested Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). Classifications can be found on Docket BIS-2025-0023 on Regulations.gov.

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Issues CSMS 66492057 - Section 232 Import Duties on Timber, Lumber, and Derivative Products - for guidance pertaining to products such as kitchen cabinets, vanities, upholstered wooden furniture effective October 14, 2025, excluding U.K., Japan and European Union members. The established rates of duty: 10% global tariff-imports of softwood lumber; 25% global tariff-certain upholstered furniture, which will increase to 30% on January 1, 2026; 25% global tariff-kitchen cabinets and vanities, which will increase to 50% on January 1, 2026.

• World Customs Organization (WCO) Publishes New SAFE Framework of Standards (FoS), responding to emerging challenges and paving the way for a secure and resilient global trading environment. The key updates in the FoS 2025 are: new provisions to enhance collaboration with environmental authorities; recognition that Micro-, Small-, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) should be part of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program; a requirement for AEOs to adopt a Code of Conduct (Ethics); address insider threats and internal conspirators as a growing concern.

STAY AHEAD — ONE FORWARDER, ONE BROKER, OVERALL COMPLIANCE 

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