Acting Commissioner Wants CBP to Transition from "Regulating" to "Enabling" Trade

During a recent trade event¹, CBP’s Acting Assistant and Deputy Commissioners discussed Acting Commissioner Aguilar's vision for the agency and the trade community in the face of current and future budget cuts. Officials state that CBP will continue to push its mission by reducing transaction costs and transforming the organization. CBP will do this by transitioning from "regulators" to "enablers" of trade. CBP will also need to harmonize its policies and regulations with its ACE efforts, address revenue-loss issues in the AD/CV collection system, and reset the penalty/mitigation process so that it is more efficient.

"Co-Created" Roles with Trade Critical to Success in Difficult Budget Times

Continuing former Commissioner Bersin's work, Acting Commissioner Aguilar wants U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel to transition from being "regulators" to "enablers" of trade through the use of practical and logical approaches. CBP faces the challenge of a $60 million reduction in its budget this year, and in the out years $300 million a year is projected to be cut. With difficult budget times ahead, Acting Deputy Commissioner Winkowski stated that private sector engagement in "co-created" partnerships² was critical to CBP's success and that Acting Commissioner Aguilar and CBP staff will continue to strengthen their relationships with the trade community and industry.

Acting Commissioner Asks CBP to Have "Bi-Directional" Relationship with Trade

Assistant Commissioner Al Gina noted that Acting Commissioner Aguilar has also mandated that CBP engage in a "bi-directional" relationship with the trade community in which CBP educates the trade on what the agency has been charged to do, while the agency learns how the trade operates. By learning more from the trade community and mirroring how they do business internally, CBP can do a better job of complementing those systems.

Acting Commissioner Aguilar has also asked CBP to partner with industry on their metrics for outcome, output, efficiency, and value-added. As CBP embraces various initiatives, Aguilar wants to see how the trade evaluates CBP initiatives and if they support the direction in which CBP is headed. For example, through discussions with the trade at the COAC, Trade Day, Trade Symposium, and other conferences, CBP has been able to gauge the direction the trade wants to go and gain innovative ideas to incorporate into a number of initiatives. This will help CBP know that the trade supports what the agency will need do in the years ahead.

Said CBP also Needs to Harmonize ACE Efforts with its Regulations

Acting Deputy Commissioner Winkowski noted that the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) will continue to play an important role for CBP as it continues to transform. However, creating a harmonized approach to trade facilitation and automation is a big challenge. Acting Commissioner Aguilar has asked CBP look at updating policies as it undergoes the complex transition from the legacy Automated Commercial System (ACS) to ACE. With Simplified Entry, Simplified Summary, and Cargo Release, the ACE platform could largely enhance CBP's efficiency, but the necessary policies and regulations will need to be ready and available as soon as new functionality is released. Therefore, CBP's automation efforts must be on a parallel track with its regulations. Issuing proposed rulemakings is one way that will allow for a dialogue with trade so that CBP will know when the trade and policy are ready to embrace new automation changes and the release of automated systems won't have to be delayed.

AD/CVD Revenue, Penalty Mitigation & Bonds also Need to Be Addressed

According to Assistant Commissioner Al Gina, CBP also needs to address revenue loss issues associated with the collection of antidumping (AD) and countervailing (CV) duties, as the agency may not be collecting about $100 million a year. Regarding penalty assessment, CBP needs to work with industry to "reset" how penalties are issued and how the dollar amounts are set. Penalties, when announced, are very large but usually get mitigated down significantly. CBP also wants to know if there is a better way to apply bonds, and how to support the brokerage community when it is verifying importers of record, among other things.

¹At the February 7, 2011 National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) Legislative Seminar in Washington, DC

²An example of a "co-created" system is the Air Cargo Advanced Screening (ACAS) pilot through which CBP has made a lot of progress in better targeting and preventing high risk goods on aircraft. ACAS has also led to CBP's Simplified Entry (SE) initiative, which will leverage ACAS and has received a lot of endorsement from the trade community. Another example is the Centers of Excellence and Expertise for the Electronics and Pharmaceutical industries, which resulted from CBP discussions with the trade. Winkowski stated that Acting Commissioner Aguilar will continue to push the CEE initiative and will put together a trade group to conduct a major evaluation of the CEE.

CBP press release on Winkowski's remarks is available here.