DHS, Commerce Dept. Agreement on E-Commerce Includes Broad Review of Customs Issues

A memorandum of agreement between the Commerce Department and the Department of Homeland Security signed last week includes plans to work together in looking at and updating customs processes to help facilitate e-commerce. “Having the infrastructure in place to help U.S. companies compete for these e-commerce sales is crucial to our nation’s position in the global marketplace,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in an Oct. 19 news release. Specifically, DHS seeks to "develop a position on the de minimis threshold increase" to reflect CBP "reprogramming requirements, as well as changes to DHS’s and other partner government agencies’ risk analysis processes for shipments no longer subject to customs duties," the agreement says. "DHS aims to ensure that risk measures applied to low value goods do not unnecessarily burden trade, as Congress intended."

There's been much discussion in recent weeks about how CBP and other agencies should handle imports below the $800 de minimis threshold (see 1710170032). Among the broad goals mentioned in the agreement are that DHS will "identify and remove or mitigate legitimate barriers to ecommerce, especially those that impede Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises’ (MSME) ability to comply with customs laws and regulations while remaining mindful of the Department’s law enforcement mission and priorities." Also, "DHS will continue to evaluate and expand advance electronic data requirements at export and import, leveraging manifest, entry, and pre-departure data."

DHS will also work to "identify processes, procedures, and regulatory regimes that need to be revisited so that no trading entity has an unfair advantage over another," the agreement says. The department will also "seek to harmonize" the "advance electronic data requirements for export and import manifest and entry -- so that e-commerce players have a level playing field."

The Commerce Department plans to create an e-commerce team within the International Trade Administration's Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Services, the agreement says. "The team will create effective tools that align with sectoral priorities to address trade-related problems that U.S. companies face in technology, retail sales, and distribution," it says. Both departments will also engage with industry advisory committees, the Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness for Commerce and the Commercial Customs Operation Advisory Committee (COAC) for DHS. There's already been some work within COAC on the issue (see 1708230042)

Together, the departments will work with U.S. agencies "to jointly develop and support innovative provisions in U.S. bilateral and multilateral free trade agreement negotiations that facilitate and promote a legitimate e-commerce supply chain, including provisions related to automating customs clearance processes, enhancing customs to customs cooperation, preserving intellectual property and enforcing laws that protect intellectual property rights, protecting public health and safety, and supporting international trade in e-commerce services that serve as the foundation for the e-commerce supply chain."

Also planned are joint meetings with government officials from the U.S. and trading partner countries, including through the World Customs Organization’s E-Commerce Working Group, "to discuss ways to improve and streamline cross-border processes as they pertain to e-commerce," the agreement says. "These may include, as appropriate, regulatory and programmatic changes, data and information exchange, opportunities to collaborate on enforcement with counterpart countries related to supply chains of illegitimate or illicit e-commerce derived goods and the underlying transnational criminal organizations, and other activities to enhance cross-border movement of legitimate goods and to facilitate supply chain efficiency."