DHS Concerned About WCO Efforts to Differentiate Between E-Commerce and Other Trade

The Department of Homeland Security would like the World Customs Organization to continue to use the SAFE Framework of Standards for e-commerce rather than create a set of entirely new standards for that purpose, said Christa Brzozowski, deputy assistant secretary for trade and transport at the Department of Homeland Security. Brzozowski spoke on a panel about the WCO at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America Government Affairs Conference Sept. 24 in Washington. "The concern from my perspective, from DHS' perspective and potentially from the U.S. government perspective -- that paper is still circulating, but we hope to present yet again at the WCO in early October -- is that we question whether there is value in creating sort of two distinct rules of the road, two distinct sets of tools for 'traditional flows' and 'e-commerce flows,'" she said.

Instead, DHS would like to see the WCO "look and harken back to the bedrock principles of SAFE and not relitigate, not readjudicate, things we've spent a lot of time and effort to develop, but really try to identify those areas -- be it risk management, be it data, be it partnerships -- where the key characteristics of e-commerce and digitalization requires us to perhaps amend or update some of the compendium tools," Brzozowski said. There's already been some wariness at CBP over the WCO's approach to e-commerce (see 1805040018). The WCO Council adopted a framework on e-commerce standards earlier this year (see 1807100048).

It would be better to continue to rely on the SAFE principles where they still apply and "not try and reinvent the entire wheel here for e-commerce," Brzozowski said. Still, there is some "novelty" and "new kinds of players" in e-commerce, she said. There are "certainly opportunities where governments can come together and explore some of the concepts," but "from the U.S. perspective" there's some hesitancy to formalize an idea into "something as important -- non-binding -- but still as important as a global standard."

There are some different considerations, particularly revenue collection, when discussing e-commerce with other countries, Brzozowski said. "What we are appreciating now, from a DHS and a [U.S. government] perspective is as you build the framework to get data and collect revenue for these types of parcels, it's going to inform" the way "you collect data for a whole bunch of other purposes," she said. As a result, DHS sees the need to become more engaged on the revenue collection issues, even though it's less of a concern in the U.S., she said.

Within the WCO Private Sector Consultative Group there's talk of initiating a pilot to "enhance the data sharing between customs and industry," said Mary Jo Muoio of Geodis. Muoio recently attended a PSCG meeting on behalf of the NCBFAA. Companies like Pfizer, which was represented by former ICE official Lev Kubiak, "want as much intel as they could possibly get from CBP" about seizures and other issues to use that data in support of supply chain measures, she said. There's some concern from the Global Express Association about "entrusting other entities that they may have and mine themselves," she said. There's also talk of a pilot to prevent counterfeiting and piracy, Muoio said. "This pilot is working with maritime transport industry to raise awareness, encourage them to know their customers" and "enhance their own risk profiling and information sharing" to prevent intellectual property rights violations, she said.