CBP Says Regulations for FTZs Are Progressing
Although the fact that hiring a contractor to edit language in preparation for asking CBP's regulatory attorneys to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking sounds like more red tape, Jim Swanson, director of the cargo and security controls division of the cargo and conveyance security section of CBP's Office of Field Operations said it's momentum.
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"We’ve been attempting to work on those regulations for several years," he said Feb. 15 at the National Association for Foreign-Trade Zones legislative conference, referring to rewriting 19 CFR Part 146, the regulations that govern FTZs. "That sounds like an interim step, but it’s a huge step -- it gets it out of the talking phase and into the action stage."
CBP Cargo and Conveyance Security Executive Director Thomas Overacker said that because there are always so many regulations in the pipeline, you have to fight to get them through CBP and then through the Office of Management and Budget review. "I’m really excited we should be able to deliver on that this year," he said, referring to the rulemaking. He said the new regulation will basically codify the procedures that were done in the e214 pilot; they will amend the five-day rule to simplify logistics, and will eliminate form 216, because it's redundant.
Swanson said the goal is a more cohesive set of regulations, and as close to a no-paper process as can be achieved. At the very least, it will be electronic submissions only for entry summaries and at the 214 level, he said.
Swanson was asked whether the department would implement electronic 6043s, which are important for Texas border FTZs that are transferring Mexican goods between areas within the FTZ. He said that segment of ACE updates for trucking is a little behind the main development, which will be a new truck manifest. That electronic truck manifest is already being tested in Brownsville, and will be tested in Buffalo, New York; Detroit; Blaine, Wash.; and Laredo, Texas, before being delivered at the end of May nationwide.
But he said providing an electronic form for the purpose of transfer and the 214, which is the application for entry into an FTZ, should be launched in August or September.