CBP Postpones Trade Symposium; WCO Cancels HSC Session

CBP won't hold the 2020 Trade Symposium March 10-11, the agency said on March 4. “Given the number of cancellations received by trade partners and attendees and the more than two-dozen company travel restrictions that would impact the number of those able to participate, U.S. Customs and Border Protection has made the difficult decision to postpone the 2020 Trade Symposium,” it said on its website. “The intent of the symposium is to educate and update the attendees on CBP’s trade priorities. We believe that postponing the event to maximize attendance is the most beneficial course of action at this time.” CBP plans to process registration fee refunds shortly, it said.

CBP received “cancellations from more than 100 individual participants and were informed, as of earlier this week, that 29 companies were or were going to be imposing travel restrictions on their employees,” a CBP spokesperson said. “We are working on a rescheduling now, but do not have anything yet. We are working to de-conflict the rescheduled conference with other trade related events currently scheduled through the end of the Fiscal Year, and we’ll provide new dates as soon as we can work out the details.”

CBP has not imposed travel restrictions on its own employees and it's unclear how other events might be affected, the spokesperson said. "We would not want to speculate on COVID-19 impact to other events," the spokesperson said. "As we’ve seen, this is a fluid situation and we continue to monitor the situation and recommendations made by the" Centers for Disease Control. Multiple trade conferences have been canceled in recent weeks over COVID-19 concerns (see 2003030046 and 2002200036).

Meanwhile, the World Customs Organization canceled several more upcoming events, it announced on March 5. Among the now-canceled events are meetings of the Harmonized System Committee Working Party, the 65th Session of the Harmonized System Committee and the Private Sector Consultative Group, the WCO said.

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said it is still planning to go forward with its Las Vegas, Nevada, conference in April. "We have been closely monitoring the recent COVID-19 outbreak," it said in an email. "At this time, the NCBFAA fully intends for the Annual Conference to take place as scheduled."