International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for May 31 - June 6 in case they were missed.
CBP officials are in the very early stages of considering potential benefits for Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program members related to withhold release orders on goods suspected of forced labor production, said Thomas Kendrik, chief, strategic enforcement branch, at CBP. One possible C-TPAT benefit could involve exporting goods that are stopped due to a WRO, he said. "We have discussed with our partners over there at C-TPAT that expedited export could be a benefit," he said. Kendrik and other officials spoke at the West Coast Trade Symposium on May 26 in Phoenix.
CANCUN, Mexico -- Despite the work it takes to get there, signed Mutual Recognition Arrangements really mark the beginning of the relationship between customs administrations, said Elizabeth Schmelzinger, Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Program Director at CBP, while speaking at the World Customs Organization Authorized Economic Operator conference on May 13. An MRA "must be carried out with confidence and precision be each of the AEO program," she said. "Consistent self-evaluation and mutual evaluation to ensure that we are innovating and that we adhere to the tenets of the security programs of the mutual recognition that we have agreed to."
CANCUN, Mexico -- Companies will increasingly limit supply chain relationships to suppliers that participate in Authorized Economic Operator programs, said industry members at the World Customs Organization AEO conference on May 11. For example, James Lockett, vice president, Head of Trade Facilitation at Huawei Technologies, said he expects AEO status to someday be a prerequisite for all Huawei suppliers. While it's still too early on to make that requirement, it seems to be where the company is headed, he said. That trend is already evident within CBP's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program, said Martin Rojas, senior advisor for the Americas, International Road Transport Union. While C-TPAT benefits for truckers are somewhat limited -- allowing for manifest submissions a half hour ahead of border crossing rather than an hour -- many truckers participate because the clients require it, he said.
CANCUN, Mexico -- New reporting requirements in the customs reauthorization law aren't expected to hamper efforts to align CBP's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program with Authorized Economic Operator programs, said Rich DiNucci, executive director, Cargo and Conveyance Security, at CBP. The law requires CBP to consult with the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees before beginning negotiations or entering Mutual Recognition Arrangements (see 1602170074). DiNucci discussed the issue on May 11 during the World Customs Organization's AEO Conference.
CBP is close to beginning the second phase of its trusted trader pilot program that aligns the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Importer Self-Assessment programs, said Liz Schmelzinger, director of C-TPAT at CBP, during the April 27 Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee meeting. The second phase involves the "attribution of the benefits" listed within the 2014 Federal Register notice that announced the pilot (see 14061320), she said. The agency will next consider the "effectiveness and the utility of those benefits" because some of those benefits may not be relevant any more, she said. Though initially drafted as a combination of C-TPAT and ISA, the agency has since tweaked the plans (see 1511040066).
Now that all of the industry-focused Centers of Excellence and Expertise are fully operational, members of the Importer Self Assessment and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism programs should get a "higher level of service," the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) Trade Modernization Subcommittee said in a list of draft recommendations (here). The recommendation is among a wide range of recommendations planned for discussion at the COAC meeting on April 27 (see 1604250011). CBP's treatment of trusted traders should include "enhanced communication, accessibility and responsiveness (including updates and trends to increase or maintain compliance) with their National Account Manager (NAM) or other Center representative," the subcommittee said.
Being able to file a single customs declaration for all imports or exports in a given period is one of the few currently discernible benefits that companies would enjoy after implementation of a bilateral trusted trader framework pitched by the European Union in a proposal released March 21 on customs provisions in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (here), industry executives said in interviews over the past week. In addition to the single customs declaration, the proposal lists low documentary and data requirements, low physical inspection rate, and deferred duty payments as required trusted trader benefits, as well as provisions on customs single windows, though it lacks specifics on an EU de minimis increase.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee will next meet April 27 in Washington, D.C., CBP said in a notice (here).
The Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (here), signed into law by President Barack Obama on Feb. 24, establishes new requirements for customs brokers to verify the identities of their importer clients, as well as a new importer of record database. It also provides for CBP's National Targeting Center to issue "Trade Alerts" directing CBP port personnel to inspect high-risk merchandise, and directs CBP to accept private sector training on classification, appraisement, and other enforcement issues.