More Information on Bad Actors Seen as Possible Improvement to CBP Data Sharing

Better sharing of data about companies with poor compliance history was among the changes cited as possible improvements during CBP's March 1 forum focused on creating a new customs framework (see 1812200003). "I'm challenged with antidumping to reach out to my importers when there's a new case to alert them of things that should be happening," said Lisa Gelsomino, CEO of Avalon Risk Management. "And while customs brokers do that too, we are all dealing with so many challenges in the supply chain today, the more that we can help people comply the better off we are and the better off CBP is."

It's remains very much unclear whether CBP could get nontraditional parties in trade, mostly involved in e-commerce, to provide the data that CBP seeks without new regulations, said Celeste Catano, global product manager-customs management at BluJay Solutions. While some incentivizing pieces, such as a trusted trader component and promises of reduced inspections, might help, "some of these parties don't necessarily need to report to customs today," she said. "So, to get them to start investing in technology and [the] stuff they would need to talk with customs might be a little bit of a challenge." Revenue based incentives "might be something interesting but obviously a tough hurdle," said Chris Rubio, vice president at UPS Global Customs Brokerage Systems.

A partnership approach would be another method toward getting those parties more involved, said Mike Mullen, executive director of the Express Association of America. Mullen suggested CBP get the "seven largest e-commerce platforms to sign in to a partnership program where they would provide some data [CBP wants] and [CBP] would provide some concrete benefits in terms of how rapidly those products are being released." Mullen said "I'm probably being naive but I can't believe there wouldn't be an interest in that."

Another roadblock to effective data sharing is the "lack of global synchronization," Rubio said. Rubio would like to see a "multinational working group comprised of trade, industry and global customs agencies aimed at solving information for shared goals such as security, compliance, statistics gathering, and efficient collection methodologies." The need for an updated Automated Broker Interface could also improve data sharing, Catano said. "I think it definitely is time to start switching over" from ABI, she said. The change would "cost money" but would likely be a bit easier than the change to ACE, she said.