CBP Commissioner Orders Independent Review of ACE, Announces New Trade Strategy, Etc.
During the keynote address at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's 2008 Trade Symposium, CBP Commissioner Basham discussed a variety of trade issues, highlights of which include:
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Independent Review of ACE, New ACE Deployment Schedule to be Published
CBP is now in the process of evaluating the full impact of the previously announced delays in e-Manifest: Ocean and Rail for advance cargo information purposes (M1) and Entry Summary, Account, and Revenue (ESAR) A2.2 and will be publishing a new deployment schedule. The Commissioner has also asked for an independent review of the ACE program. (CBP sources have stated that this review has begun and is expected to be completed by the end of November 2008.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 09/22/08 and 07/28/08 news, 08092205 and 08072805, for previous BP summaries on the ACE delays.)
Trade Told Continued Lobbying Against 102 Could Potentially Lead to 100% Scanning
The Commissioner told Trade Symposium attendees that CBP can either add more data elements to improve its risk-based, targeted strategy or, if continued lobbying against 102 is successful, the alternative will potentially lead to 100% scanning of every container.
CBP Releases Comprehensive Trade Strategy
Commissioner Basham announced that CBP is publishing a comprehensive trade strategy for the first time. The strategy, which has been in the works for at least a year, is built on priority trade issues and will guide CBP's trade mission in the field.
See future issue of ITT for summary on CBP's Trade Strategy.
CBP Partnership with CPSC
Another announcement made by the Commissioner was the partnership between CBP and the Consumer Product Safety Commission on import safety.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 10/29/08 news, 08102900, for BP summary of CBP's announcement of the expansion of the Importer Self-Assessment Program (ISA) to include the Importer Self-Assessment-Product Safety Pilot (ISA-PS).)
Basham's Priorities for CBP Focused on Integrity, Intelligence, Partnerships
In his remarks, the CBP Commissioner noted that some of the actions taken to address his priorities during his tenure at CBP include the following:
creation of the Office of International Trade;
establishment of an Internal Affairs office within CBP and the development of a Comprehensive Integrity Strategy;
making CBP a fully integrated, intelligence-driven organization and the creation of the Office of Intelligence and Operational Coordination; and
strengthening partnerships with the trade.
The Commissioner noted that on all of the priorities he established for CBP, there is still more work to do.
Commissioner's keynote address (dated 10/30/08), available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/commissioner/speeches_statements/basham_remarks_trade.xml.
CBP Trade Strategy available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/trade/trade_outreach/cbp_trade_strategy.ctt/cbp_trade_strategy.pdf.