THE VIGILANT VIGIL – 35th EDITION

Welcome, visitor, to the Vigil. Here you will find a summation of current global trade changes and regulatory updates. We aim to deliver helpful insights in a timely and relevant manner, to help you remain vigilant in an ever-evolving trade environment.

 

Vigil Viewpoint:

DUTY CALLS!

The First Duty of Society Is Justice… and Other Things Customs Professionals Should Remember

Yesterday, I reported for jury duty at the Superior Court in Phoenix, Arizona. Yes, actual jury duty, not the kind involving customs duties, tariff schedules, Chapter 99 provisions, or another emergency meeting to determine whether an additional 25%, 35%, or 50% should be applied to something that was considerably less expensive last Tuesday.

As I approached the courthouse, I noticed an inscription attributed to Alexander Hamilton: “The First Duty of Society Is Justice.” Naturally, being a Licensed Customs Broker who spends an unreasonable amount of time thinking about duties, my mind immediately wandered into dangerous territory. Just how many different kinds of duty do we encounter in our lives, and why do those of us in international trade tend to associate the word almost exclusively with money?

We spend our days researching, calculating, explaining, mitigating, and occasionally cursing customs duties, antidumping duties, countervailing duties, retaliatory duties, and the seemingly endless assortment of tariffs that have become the center of our professional universe. But standing outside that courthouse, I was reminded that there are other duties in life that may be considerably more important than the amount of money collected when merchandise crosses a border.

And yes, I realize I’ve already used the word duty an unreasonable number of times. I assure you, we’re only getting started.

Civic Duty: More Than an Inconvenient Summons

Jury duty is a fascinating institution. We rearrange our schedules, report to a courthouse, and potentially participate in decisions affecting another person’s rights, responsibilities, or future. It can be inconvenient, particularly when you’re juggling clients, deadlines, and the never-ending excitement of international trade regulations. But justice depends on ordinary people accepting responsibilities that aren’t always convenient.

That brings me to another civic responsibility that’s particularly relevant right now: voting. Next week, Americans will participate in the November midterm elections. Regardless of our political affiliations or opinions about the candidates, we have an opportunity to help determine who represents us and how our government operates. I certainly have my own opinions, and those who know me well are probably laughing at the suggestion that I might keep them entirely to myself. But participating in democracy means more than supporting people we agree with. It means becoming informed, considering consequences, respecting the rights of others, and recognizing that a functioning society requires participation, even when the choices are imperfect.

Our Duty to Speak Up

Interestingly, we have another opportunity to exercise civic responsibility within our own profession. CBP has published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM), Heightened Import Disclosures for Supply Chain Visibility, considering changes involving parties to international transactions, foreign export documentation, and supply chain traceability.

For importers, brokers, forwarders, and technology providers, the potential implications for data collection, system integrations, recordkeeping, and operational processes could be substantial. And CBP is asking for our input. Comments are due December 1, 2026.

We spend an extraordinary amount of time complaining about regulations after they’re published, debating implementation challenges, ambiguous requirements, and unrealistic timelines. Occasionally, we even wonder whether anyone writing a particular rule has ever attempted to process an actual international shipment. Well, here’s our chance to contribute before the requirements are finalized. If we want practical, effective regulations, we should be willing to share our experience rather than simply complain when nobody listens.

The Other Duties We Carry

Our responsibilities extend far beyond the customs entry. Consider environmental, social, and governance responsibilities, or ESG, whatever terminology your organization prefers. How are our products manufactured? Are suppliers respecting labor standards? Are we protecting the environment, employees, customers, and communities affected by our operations?

Forced labor is a particularly compelling example. Under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and other applicable restrictions, investigating suppliers, tracing materials, and identifying hidden relationships isn’t merely about avoiding detained merchandise. It’s also about recognizing that our sourcing decisions can affect the lives and working conditions of people we may never meet.

We also have financial and corporate duties: managing resources responsibly, controlling expenses, maintaining accurate records, and protecting our organizations from unnecessary liabilities. But financial responsibility doesn’t justify ignoring sanctions, overlooking forced labor indicators, or misrepresenting merchandise to save money. Those aren’t clever cost reductions. They’re risks and costs transferred somewhere else.

And duty isn’t exclusively a corporate concept. We speak of military duty, parental duty, filial duty, and even marital duties, although I suspect the interpretation of that last category has inspired more than a few spirited negotiations. During my years as a teacher, I also experienced lunch duty and recess duty, which largely involved preventing children from accidentally injuring themselves or one another while attempting to eat sandwiches or run around a playground.

Different responsibilities, certainly, but the same underlying principle: accepting an obligation to protect, support, or contribute to something beyond ourselves.

When Doing Your Duty Still Isn’t Enough

Yesterday, I also published an article, A Cautionary Tale for Global Trade Compliance: The Cost of Not Knowing What You Don’t Know, examining the recent enforcement action involving Extreme Networks. What makes this case particularly interesting is that the company already had an established global trade compliance function. Nevertheless, employees at a foreign subsidiary concealed transactions involving a sanctioned Russian defense manufacturer, ultimately exposing the company to significant regulatory consequences. The government’s resolution also recognized the company’s cooperation and substantial remediation efforts.

It’s a powerful reminder that having a compliance program and genuinely attempting to do the right thing doesn’t guarantee that everyone throughout your organization is doing the same. Our compliance duty requires more than policies, screening software, and annual training. It means challenging assumptions, investigating anomalies, testing controls, and occasionally asking questions that nobody particularly wants answered.

In the article, I explore what went wrong, what the government is telling us about corporate accountability, and why investing in prevention may be considerably less expensive than paying for remediation. The larger lesson is that we are duty-bound not to become blind to the risks we’d rather not discover. Personally, I’d much rather find a problem during an internal audit than have a federal investigator explain it to me later.

The First Duty of Society Is Justice

That brings me back to the inscription outside the courthouse. Justice involves fairness, accountability, rights, obligations, and the institutions that allow people to live and work together. It doesn’t mean every law is perfect or every government action is automatically just. In fact, questioning laws, challenging unfairness through appropriate channels, and participating in improving our institutions are themselves important responsibilities.

Jury service, voting, public participation in rulemaking, responsible corporate governance, and effective trade compliance may seem like very different activities, but they share something important: they depend on people accepting responsibility even when nobody is standing over them demanding it.

Our work may not always feel like a profound contribution to civilization. Determining whether a product belongs under one HTS subheading or another rarely inspires philosophical reflection. But our decisions can affect fair competition, national security, government revenue, environmental protection, labor conditions, and the ability of legitimate businesses to participate in international commerce. Those consequences are real, even when the work involves spreadsheets, supplier questionnaires, and a truly unreasonable number of emails.

So, as I return to my assortment of customs duties, compliance duties, and professional duties, I’ll also be thinking about the responsibilities we carry as citizens, colleagues, parents, and members of our communities. Next week, I’ll exercise my voting duty, and before December 1, I hope many of us in the trade community will consider contributing to CBP’s rulemaking discussion.

As for me, I intend to keep asking questions, challenging assumptions, auditing transactions, and occasionally making a little noise when circumstances warrant it. Those who have attended my ICPA presentations or heard me directing the Voices of Compliance Choir will appreciate that making noise has never been one of my particular difficulties.

And the next time someone asks whether we’ve fulfilled our duty, perhaps we should resist the temptation to immediately reach for the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. There may be a considerably more important question behind it.

After all, the first duty of society is justice. Customs duties are important, but they aren’t the only duties that count.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a few more duties to attend to. And before anyone asks, no, I don’t believe there’s an HTS provision providing an exemption from jury duty, voting duty, parental duty, or the duty to exercise reasonable care.

Although if someone discovers one, I’m reasonably certain the trade community will have seventeen webinars about it by Friday.

Let’s veer into this week’s Vigil, shall we?

 

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In this volume, we will explore:

• Updates to the Federal Registry, for both policy and product
• Cooperative call outs to other blogs
• Where to find us
• Be sure to check out our weekly edition of Trade Buzz

 

Let’s veer into it, shall we?

**The following contains links and citations from multiple US government agencies and other credible sources. Vigilant GTS LLC is not the source material but simply compilating the information.**

 

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Federal Register Updates

**These are just a sampling of the many updates and changes made by the Federal Register. For a more comprehensive list, or to subscribe to the updates yourself, follow the link below, and never miss a thing.**

https://www.federalregister.gov

 

Notices

Customs Broker Permit User Fee Payment for 2027

FR Document: 2026-21853 Citation: 91 FR 67594

PDF Pages 67594-67595 (2 pages) Permalink

Abstract: This document provides notice to customs brokers that the annual user fee that is assessed for each permit held by a customs broker, whether an individual, partnership, association, or corporation, is due no later than January 29, 2027. Pursuant to fee adjustments required by the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations, the customs broker permit user fee payable for calendar year 2027 will be $190.88.

 

Suspension of Section 301 Action:

China’s Targeting of the Maritime, Logistics, and Shipbuilding Sectors for Dominance

FR Document: 2026-21755 Citation: 91 FR 67388

PDF Pages 67388-67389 (2 pages) Permalink

Abstract: To allow for further negotiation with China regarding the acts, policies, and practices at issue in this investigation, the U.S. Trade Representative (Trade Representative) is proposing to modify the action taken in this investigation to further suspend that action for two months, through January 9, 2027. This notice invites public comment from interested parties on the proposed modification.

 

Antidumping or Countervailing Duty Investigations, Orders, or Reviews:

Mattresses from Cambodia, China, Malaysia, Serbia, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam

FR Document: 2026-21824 Citation: 91 FR 67611	PDF Page 67611 (1 page) Permalink
Abstract: [Not available]

 

Certain Corrugated Die-Cut Cardboard Boxes from the People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, and the Republic of Turkiye

FR Document: 2026-21783 Citation: 91 FR 67276	PDF Pages 67276-67282 (7 pages) Permalink
Abstract: [Not available]

 

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News from other esteemed sources:

 

  THOMPSON/HINE

U.S. Importer of Canadian Products Challenges Section 338 Tariffs

By Scott E. Diamond**, David M. Schwartz, Francesca M.S. Guerrero, Samir D. Varma & Kerem Bilge on October 21, 2026

On October 20, 2026, Gellert Global Group Corp. (Gellert) filed a complaint in in the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) challenging the 50% ad valorem tariffs placed on Canadian products by President Donald Trump under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C. § 1338. The complaint seeks class action status for all importers of record that have paid, or will pay, Section 338 duties on entries made on or after August 22, 2026.

U.S. Importer of Canadian Products Challenges Section 338 Tariffs | SmarTrade

 

 

BAKER/MCKENZIE

Mexico: Customs Law Amendments Expand Precautionary Seizure for Undervalued Imports Beginning January 1, 2027

On October 23, 2026, the Mexican President published a decree amending several provisions of the Customs Law. The amendments, which will become effective on January 1, 2027, significantly expand the circumstances in which customs authorities may…
Read more…

 

China Proposes New Sanctions Tool in Response to Trade Secret Theft
10/27/2026
On October 26, 2026, China’s Ministry of Commerce (“MOFCOM”) published the draft Special Provisions on the Protection of Chinese Trade Secrets, introducing a new sanctions tool targeting foreign infringement of Chinese trade secrets. Once…
Read more…

 

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Vigilant Visitation Opportunities

We will be out and about at different trade and compliance related conferences around the country! We would love for you to come to say hello, so we can get to know you better! You can also connect with us at: https://vigilantgts.com/ or through our socials, on Facebook and LinkedIn!

 

 Where we will be:

 

ICPA Annual Spring Conference, March 7 – March 10, 2027

Orlando, Florida, USA

This will be the 25^th Anniversary Event for ICPA.

Jamie Adams will be presenting on “Networking for Career Development” and leading the Voices of Compliance Choir in multiple performances.

 

ICPA Global Trade Insights Conference, April 7 – April 8, 2027

Wembley, England

Jamie Adams will be presenting and also leading the choir.

 

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TRADE BUZZ – Powered by Vigilant GTS

 

Trade never stands still—and neither do we.

Every Tuesday, we publish a new Trade Buzz episode highlighting timely developments in customs, tariffs, export controls, sanctions, compliance, and global trade. Our goal is simple: provide practical, easy-to-understand insights that help you stay informed and prepared.

This week’s topic: CTPAT Trade Compliance is about more than having policies and procedures in place. Building on the former Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) program, effective compliance requires strong internal controls for classification, valuation, and country of origin, supported by regular self-audits, documented corrective actions, and consistent oversight. It’s about creating an audit-ready program that demonstrates accountability, builds trust with CBP, and identifies problems before they become costly violations.

🎥 Watch the latest episode:

https://vigilantgts.com/audit-ready-compliance-that-builds-trust-hb/

 

Missed a previous episode? Browse the complete Trade Buzz library at:
https://vigilantgts.com/blog/