CBP Finalizing 21st Century Customs Framework

CBP recently finished a “final draft” of a document creating a 21st Century Customs Framework, Vincent Annunziato, director of CBP’s business transformation office, said during the American Association of Exporters and Importers virtual conference Aug. 19. The draft includes five pillars: Enhance Facilitation and Security, Define Customs and Trade Responsibilities, Ensure Seamless Data Sharing, Employ Intelligent Enforcement, and Protect and Enhance Customs Infrastructure Through Secure Funding, he said. CBP said last year it hoped to begin introducing some policy changes around the framework this year (see 1907250028).

The hope is that a technology like blockchain can touch on all the pillars that CBP is focused on within the framework, Annunziato said. “What [the draft plan] starts to do is it looks at the natural progression of the supply chain and it actually starts to move data in accordance with that,” he said. CBP is particularly interested in the pre-arrival and pre-release data “that we really haven't been a part of,” he said. For example, “what happens when you've made contract with a manufacturer and they start ordering from the raw materials [company] and what about those movements from the manufacturer all the way to the carrier,” he said.

Blockchain can be viewed as a “new way of looking at how we collect data at the origin source,” Annunziato said. “If you're getting it from the origin, instead of everything being third party, what trust is gained by doing that? And that's where blockchain starts to change the whole dynamic.” People can always lie about who they are, but the “trust factor” refers to “having certain things in place that would enable us to identify entities better, but also at the source of the origin,” he said. “Who it belongs to, where they are located and who is affiliated. All those things are starting to come into this future technology.” The agency is looking at this through the “Unified Entry Process,” but “I expect there's going to be a name change pretty soon because that's kind of an outdated word,” he said.

CBP will also be piloting use of Box software, which allows for “file sharing capability that is really happening over the internet in a safe way,” he said. Annunziato said consideration of the software came about in response to complaints from agency auditors who “go out and spend days doing audits on companies, in their warehouse, in their offices, copying papers. It's a nightmare.” CBP would expect to save “between eight and 40 hours, per assignment, for the people on the ground,” using the software, he said.