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.
CBP collected $37 billion in duties during fiscal year 2015, up 6.6 percent from the previous year, said CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske during a Feb. 19 speech at the Tampa Bay Safety and Risk Mitigation Summit (here). The agency also processed 33 million import entries and 26.3 million cargo containers, he said. With NAFTA leading the way, "special programs and Free Trade Agreements represented approximately 27 percent of total U.S. imports, by value," Kerlikowske said.
CBP posted its agenda and some other agency documents for the upcoming Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) meeting on Jan. 13. Among the posted items is a subcommittee status report from the Office of Trade Relations (here). The COAC will form a new working group to make recommendations for customs broker regulations updates and to "promote transparency and collaboration among stakeholders with equities in 19 CFR 111," said CBP in the report. "With these recommendations, CBP will publish" a notice "describing the anticipated changes and solicit comments." The agenda is (here).
International Trade Today is providing readers with some of the top stories for 2015 in case they were missed.
The submission rate for cargo release continues to edge up, with some 11.6 percent of cargo release entries in the Automated Commercial Environment as of November, according to CBP's presentation that was part of an webinar hosted by Integration Point on Dec. 15 (here). CBP reported a 10.2 percent submission rate in October. The low levels of cargo release submissions is a source of some concern at CBP ahead of the ACE transition dates (see 1510190017 and 1511050059).
The House’s recent passage of customs reauthorization (see 1512110029) is a step toward improvements to the “safety, security and efficiency” of cross-border trucking and the Senate should "quickly" follow suit, said the American Trucking Associations in a news release on Dec. 15. "Trucks move the majority of freight between the U.S. and its neighbors Mexico and Canada," ATA CEO Bill Graves said. "This compromise bill will help move that commerce safely and efficiently across those borders and we urge not only its quick passage, but urge President Obama to sign it into law." ATA highlighted the bill’s exemption of residue in bulk cargo containers from full duty requirements, a “key provision” that ATA said would improve the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and the general customs process.
CBP signed a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) with the Dominican Republic to allow for consideration of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Authorized Economic Partnership programs at the borders, said CBP (here). CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske signed the arrangement on behalf of the U.S. and Dominican Customs Director General Fernando Fernandez signed for the Dominican Republic, said CBP. The MRA marks the 11th such arrangement the U.S. is in, said CBP.