EAA Encouraged by 'Beyond the Border' Prgoress

The recent list of accomplishments as part of the U.S.-Canada "Beyond the Border" action plan points to good work by both governments in improving trade processing between the countries, said the Express Association of America (EAA) in a statement. “The progress we see on implementing the Beyond the Border Action Plan is very encouraging,” said Michael Mullen, Executive Director of the EAA. “The agreement has very ambitious deadlines for establishing new trade facilitation measures, but both Governments are fully engaged in meeting the targets."

The EAA pointed to three accomplishments specifically:

• A deeper level of mutual recognition between the Partners in Protection and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism programs which will provide more rapid clearance of shipments from highly compliant trusted traders.
• Increasing the low value shipment threshold to $2500, which will provide simplified customs procedures for large numbers of shipments across the border by small businesses and consumers, lowering transaction costs significantly for these critical sectors of the economy.
• Developing a common and streamlined set of required data elements for advance security screening of inbound cargo.

(Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of the release.)

(See ITT's Online Archives 12121730 for the recent White House list of "Beyond the Border" accomplishments.)