CEEs Should Treat Consignees as Importers of Record or New Center for Express Couriers Needed, UPS Says
CBP should look at a consignee as the importer of record (IOR) for transactions with the Centers of Excellence and Expertise to allow for express courier broker participation, UPS subsidiary UPS Supply Chain Solutions said in comments to CBP (here). UPS submitted the comments in response to CBP's interim final rule that made regulatory changes for the CEE and went into effect Jan. 19 (see 1612190014). "CBP currently does not obtain the entire importer picture as the CEE is designed without looking at the 'ship to' party (formerly consignee) as the party that caused the importation," the company said. As an "industry sector, we face unique challenges when acting as importer of record," it said.
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That change would allow CBP to see a fuller picture of the priority trade and security issues involved, it said. "UPS believes to fulfill the purpose of the Centers and provide importer visibility across all ports CBP should treat the consignee in the same light as an IOR for purposes of CEE," UPS said. "Frequently the ship to party has other transactions where they are the IOR."
Otherwise, "UPS suggests CBP consider a separate CEE for Express courier brokers," it said. The interim rule explains that "brokers acting as the IOR will have their entry summary processed by the Center relating to the predominant HTSUS number for the entry summary since brokers' business models do not necessarily align within a particular industry sector." The exclusion of brokers from the CEE model "is anathema to the stated purpose of the program," UPS said. While "difficult to utilize the HTS model, UPS believes express courier brokers meet the definition of an industry sector, and CBP would be better served to create a center to focus on industry specific matters, promote uniformity, and provide expertise for the specific challenges related to our industry."
The American Association of Exporters and Importers also filed comments (here) after seeking an extension to allow for input from the Trump administration (see 1701180016). The AAEI noted there's a "lack of procedures and policies for the coordination of CEEs with the ports and other Customs offices, and the difficulties in determining who has responsibility/where to make contact," it said. The importer assignment policy mentioned in the interim final rule "appears to be a reversal of CBP’s policy explained during the operations in 2016, when CBP officials indicated that entries requiring review would be assigned to CEEs based on the primary commodities on an entry, so that an importer could end up dealing with multiple CEEs for different entries," it said.
The trade group also inquired how the CEEs will coordinate when an importer assigned to one CEE imports goods covered by another CEE. "[W]ith the volume handled by the validation level, we wonder whether CBP is able to properly allocate accounts," it said. The AAEI also asked how the CEE assignments will be handled for "the majority of importers who have only one or a few shipments annually."