CBP Considering Options for Advanced Export Data Requirements

TACOMA, Wash. -- CBP is in "very early" discussions to add advanced export data reporting standards, said Todd Owen, CBP Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Field Operations at the West Coast Trade Symposium on May 27. The agency is considering the issue along with the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations to CBP and looking at "what advanced export data is available" and how can a subset of that data help the agency target the shipments it is concerned with, he said. "We have to find a better way to allow us to target for our enforcement concerns."

CBP is also rolling out some resource management improvements, said Owen. For example, the agency is now using tablets to allow for release of cargo from the docks. That means once an exam is finished, the cargo will no longer need to stay put until after the CBP officer can return to the office to report the exam, he said. That technology is now available at 17 locations, he said. Owen said he'd also like to see the Air Cargo Advanced Screening voluntary program include the U.S Postal Service once it becomes mandatory. "So much of the cargo is moving via postal that they need to be part of ACAS and to help provide that advanced data so we can secure that supply chain, which is going to be so critical to the e-commerce."

CBP is looking closely at the opportunities and challenges related to the growth in e-commerce, said Brenda Smith, CBP assistant commissioner in the Office of International Trade. CBP needs to get a better handle on e-commerce and the connection to small and single-person businesses, she said. "The visions that the United States is putting forward through things like the Trade Facilitation Agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, the T-TIP negotiations with the European Union" give a chance for the U.S. to "drive" a modern and internationally harmonized system of trade.

There's some legitimacy to the concerns recently raised by industry and Congress over the agency's trade enforcement efforts (see 1505050016), said Smith. There are over 400 laws that CBP must enforce on behalf of many other agencies in addition to CBP's other enforcement work, she said. There's certainly room for improvement, "whether you're talking about the seizure process, or the penalty process" or how CBP shares information, she said. CBP could do a better job at saying in what areas it is getting good enforcement results and where "we may need more help."

There's a constant effort at the Office of Rulings and Regulations to balance both speed and quality when issuing rulings, said Smith. While there's regularly a backlog on rulings coming out of headquarters, that often reflects the "passion of getting it right," she said. "I think that's a continuing challenge for us," she said.

The interaction between government and the industry will be increasingly important in coming years, said CBP Senior Trade Advisor Maria Luisa Boyce. "There is a perfect trade storm forming in different areas," she said. With ACE and the Trade Facilitation Agreement, there's some significant changes to the supply chain ahead, she said. In order to keep up with those changes, it will be important that the agency makes sure that its strategic decisions from the leadership make their way to the ports and at the "tactical" level, she said.