U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted the "final" facilitation recommendations of COAC's Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Subcommittee. The final recommendations are the same as the “draft” recommendations posted in December 2011 in all respects but one; they newly suggest that a program to allow legitimate importers to voluntarily transmit an IPR indicator to CBP in the cargo release data set that links to a robust database should be explored in a working pilot. According to the Subcommittee, a valid IPR indicator would lower the IPR risk assessment for that shipment, segmenting risk for CBP and speeding release for the importer. COAC’s draft recommendations discussed such a program, but did not recommend a pilot.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has announced that the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (COAC) will meet on February 21, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Topics to be discussed at the meeting include Air Cargo Advance Screening, the one government at the border initiative, and IPR enforcement. There will be comment opportunities before and during the meeting. The registration deadline to attend or listen to the webcast of the meeting is February 17.
In a January 26, 2012 posting, U.S. Customs and Border Protection states it is currently spearheading two projects to modernize the role of the broker: (1) Broker Pre-Certification and (2) Broker Regulation Redesign. The key concepts of this initiative are to leverage broker relationships to extend the opportunity for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be recognized as trusted partners, while also allowing for established “best practices” within the industry.
The White House has issued its “National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security”1 which focuses on the global network of transportation, postal, and shipping pathways, assets, and infrastructures by which goods are moved from the point of manufacture until they reach an end consumer, as well as supporting communications infrastructure and systems. The two goals of the Strategy are to: (i) promote the efficient and secure movement of goods and (ii) foster a resilient supply chain.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has recently revised information on its website to indicate that the Centers of Excellence and Expertise (CEEs) for the pharmaceuticals and electronics industries have been renamed as the "Industry Integration Center for Pharmaceuticals, Health & Chemicals CEE" and the "Information Technology and Consumer Electronics CEE" to show an upcoming expansion of their product scope. Sources add that the Pharmaceuticals CEE will be expanded to cover all chemicals and health equipment (e.g. wheelchairs). CBP also plans to create CEEs for an additional eight industries over the next three years.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has posted a December 2011 update on its plans for land border cargo pre-inspection pilots in Mexico and Canada. According to its December 2011 update and CBP sources, the parameters of the Port Huron/Sarnia “Cargo Express” pilot are still under discussion, no decision has yet been made on the start date for the FOXCONN campus pilot in San Jeronimo, and Mexico has begun construction at the pre-inspection facility in Tijuana.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for December 27-30, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
At the December 7, 2011 COAC meeting, the COAC Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Rights and CBP provided an update on their activities. COAC made recommendations for facilitating legitimate trade, including a C-TPAT-like supply chain partnership program for IPR and a distribution chain management serialization concept for validating the authenticity of goods. CBP announced that it had submitted a legislative proposal to Congress on sharing unredacted samples.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for December 19-23, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
The Department of Homeland Security has issued its Annual Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2011, which provides detailed financial information relative to DHS' mission and stewardship of resources entrusted to the department. As part of the report, DHS outlines ways in which it has overcome specific challenges related to CBP's oversight of the Importer Self Assessment (ISA) and cargo security that were identified in a November 2011 report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG).