TTIP Leak Shows State of Play on Customs Chapter Negotiation

The U.S. is pushing for advance ruling procedures based on its own rules, a 48-hour target for release of goods, and a process which would set a four-hour guideline for clearing expedited shipments under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, according to documents claimed to be leaked from TTIP's customs and trade facilitation text. While neither the U.S. nor EU confirmed authenticity of the documents, both sides criticized conclusions made based on the texts. The customs text is one of 13 chapters leaked, according to Greenpeace Netherlands, which posted the texts (here).

The U.S. wants to provide for release of goods within 48 hours of arrival, “to the extent possible,” and for promptly informing importers when goods aren’t released within that timeframe, according to the text (here). In addition, the text indicates that the EU and U.S. have agreed to include language directing they will work toward developing compatible international trade data electronic systems, including common data element requirements to facilitate advance screening of cargo. But the U.S. wants to limit data elements to those required for “effective, risk-based enforcement,” whereas the EU has not pitched similar language. The U.S. has also proposed to require both TTIP parties to set up a single-window system no later than Jan. 1, requiring notification of goods release status to direct stakeholders “in a timely manner.”

On the other hand, the EU is proposing that neither party would assess merchandise processing fee (MPF) on goods imported under the agreement, and that non-duty fees and charges connected to imports and exports would be limited to the “approximate cost” of services and not levied on an ad valorem basis, according to the text. Such services would include:

• Attendance by customs staff outside official hours or at premises outside customs premises;
• Reports on goods and postal fees for return of goods to an applicant;
• The examination of goods for verification purposes, or destruction of goods, when costs “other” than those using customs personnel arise; and
• Any “exceptional control measures” necessary because of a good’s nature or potential risk

It appears that both parties agreed to language that would require the parties to publish a list of fees and charges “in an adequate period of time before their application, except in urgent circumstances,” the text says. Other agreed-upon text would prohibit the U.S. and EU from requiring firms to use customs brokers to file import documentation, data, and other information, and directs parties requiring licensing of brokers to “apply transparent and objective requirements.”

While the EU proposed allowing the use of de minimis thresholds as each territory sees fit, the U.S. is pushing for both parties to adopt its new $800 de minimis level, according to the proposed TTIP text. But TTIP members could still assess customs duties and taxes on goods subject to excise taxes, and customs duties and taxes on goods that a member considers to be part of “a series of importations carried out or planned for the purpose of evading duties and taxes.

The consolidated text reflects each side’s negotiating position, and “nothing else,” EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said in a blog post (here). “In areas where we are too far apart in a negotiation, we simply will not agree,” she said. “In that sense, many of today's alarmist headlines are a storm in a teacup.” The documents compose about half of TTIP’s draft text, and came under fire from Greenpeace, which said the documents prove that corporations have been given an unfair privilege in influencing negotiations. “These documents make clear the scale and scope of the trade citizens of the United States and the European Union are being asked to make in pursuit of corporate profits,” Greenpeace Netherlands Executive Director Sylvia Borren said in a statement (here). “It is time for the negotiations to stop, and the debate to begin.”

Both Malmstrom in her blog post and a memo distributed to reporters by a spokesman of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative fired back at negative inferences based on the text. "While the United States does not comment on that validity of alleged leaks, the interpretations being given to these texts appear to be misleading at best and flat out wrong at worst,” the USTR memo says. “From the outset of trade negotiations with the EU, we have been clear that our goal is for T-TIP to promote economic growth, boost jobs, increase public participation and transparency in regulatory processes, and reflect our shared transatlantic values. U.S. negotiating objectives are based on extensive consultations with businesses, labor unions, environmental organizations, academics, the U.S Congress, state and local governments, and the public.”

Email ITTNews@warren-news.com for a copy of USTR’s memo.