CBP Going Through 'Revolutionary' Changes in Enforcement Efforts, Says Denning
CBP is going through a "revolutionary series of changes, both culturally, organizationally and through our implementation of new technology that will fundamentally change in every way that we look at trade enforcement," said Michael Denning, an advisor on Cargo and Conveyance Security in the CBP Office of Field Operations. Some of the key areas for agency focus during this evolution include a drive toward consistency between the ports and the Centers of Excellence and Expertise, he said on May 27 while speaking at the West Coast Trade Symposium. Risk targeting has improved and the agency is now building on some of that through the expansion of Trusted Trader within the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program, he said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Industry expertise will also add to the agency's enforcement work, said Denning. "I think if you look at our CEEs, if you look at our account based model that we're driving to" and the way CBP is segmenting risk, "we're not that different from the way that a bank handles its clients and the way an insurance company identifies and manages risk," he said. "We've come a long way in our thinking and I think we're on the right path to being more effective in the area of trade enforcement."
CBP has previously focused on the "port view" of a trade violation, not taking into consideration the wider scope of an importer's activities, which may be overwhelmingly compliant, he said. CBP is now able to consider more of the picture, and the help of other agencies and foreign governments "even gives us the capability to interdict where the trade fraud may have actually began," he said.