Trade Highlights from CBP's Fact Sheet on its FY 2009 Progress in Securing U.S. Borders

The following are highlights from the fact sheet regarding commercial trade:

C-TPAT mutual recognition. In June 2009, a Mutual Recognition Arrangement was signed with Japan, increasing the number of mutual recognition arrangements to four (CBP also has MRAs with Canada, Jordan, and New Zealand).

C-TPAT overseas validations. In FY 2009, C-TPAT's 187 Supply Chain Security Specialists (SCSS) completed more than 2,500 validations in 90 foreign countries.

ISA program grew by 10%. Importer Self Assessment members are vetted carefully, and are considered to be among the most highly compliant importers, and are accorded benefits such as an increased level of cargo facilitation. The ISA program has grown by more than 10% this year, to 194 importers.

345 audits completed, 233 in process. Regulatory Audit completed 345 audits of importers and other parties involved in the process of importing goods in FY 2009 and had another 233 audits in progress. Regulatory Audit identified approximately $61.8 million in recommended recoveries, including user fees, and collected about $26.5 million in revenue.

Trade enforcement seizures remained constant. Through the end of FY 2009, CBP initiated more than 18,000 trade enforcement seizures valued at more than $300 million, which is comparable to FY 2008 enforcement levels. These include violations of intellectual property rights having a preliminary count of 14,841 seizures with a total domestic value of $260.7 million.

Textile seizures declined, import safety seizures remained constant. Textile seizures declined this year with a change in the laws eliminating quotas from China, however, import safety related seizures maintained FY 2008 levels at about 2,600 total seizures. Through the end of FY 2009, CBP initiated 488 commercial fraud penalties, compared to 453 in FY 2008, assessed at $98 million.

IPR seizures dropped slightly. The number of seizures for IPR violations declined by 1% from 14,992 in FY 2008 to 14, 841 in FY 2009. The domestic value of goods seized decreased by 4% to $260.7 million from $272.7 million. China continued to be the top trading partner for IPR seizures in FY 2009 with a domestic value of $204.7 million, accounting for 79% of the total value seized. Footwear was the top commodity seized in FY 2009 with a domestic value of $99.7 million, which accounted for 38% of the entire value of infringing goods. The category of jewelry appeared on the top commodities list for the first time, accounting for 4% of the total value of IPR seizures by domestic value.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 12/09/09 news, 09120925, for BP summary of CBP and ICE IPR seizure statistics for FY 2009.)

Agricultural interceptions. CBP agriculture specialists seized more than 1.5 million prohibited meat, plant materials or animal products, including 166,727 agricultural pests at ports of entry.

eAllegations deployed. CBP successfully designed, developed, and deployed eAllegations, a system designed to facilitate the submission and management of trade violation allegations electronically. e-Allegations is available to the general public and trade community via CBP.gov and is proving to be a valuable tool in reducing intellectual property rights violations, among other trade violations.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 07/06/09 news, 09070605, for BP summary of U.S.-Japan MRA.

See ITT's Online Archives or 12/01/08 news, 08120140, for BP summary of CBP's FY 2008 progress, challenges in securing the border.)

Fact sheet (dated 11/24/09) available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/PrintMe.xml?xml=$/content/newsroom/press_releases/2009/november/15_to_30/11242009_5.ctt&location=/newsroom/news_releases/11242009_5.xml.

Press release (dated 11/24/09) available at http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/11242009_8.xml.)