CBP Considering 'Incentives' to Give Agency More Supply Chain Visibility

CBP is looking into making admissibility decisions earlier on for importers that give the agency more information about their supply chains, Garrett Wright, director of trade modernization at CBP, told an April 22 meeting of the Commerce Department's Advisory Committee on Supply Chain Competitiveness. The agency is looking at some broad changes to its processes as part of the CBP work on the 21st Century Customs Framework (see 2011120010). The effort's five main “bucket areas” include "updates that improve the timeliness and the quality of data that we receive or is made available to us so we can reengineer our entry processes so we are able to clear lawful trade more quickly,” he said.

Incentives are among the things being considered for the revised entry process, Wright said. “This would be, at least as we're looking at it today, more of an opt-in opportunity where the importer could open up their supply chains to CBP, where that data is either being transmitted or otherwise being made available to us,” he said. “And just by virtue of us having access to information and visibility into global supply chains and data as it materializes, the idea is that we would be able to start piecing together” decisions around admissibility and other trade issues sooner than is done now, he said. Wright would like to see the agency “pushing the needle in terms of clearing, or at least notionally clearing shipments before they leave country of export,” he said.

Increased visibility into modern supply chains is another goal “so that we're able to better identify and hold the right trade actors accountable for violative behavior,” he said. CBP also would like to “streamline our penalty processes so that we are creating this more predictable enforcement environment and that when we do use enforcement, it's effective, it's timely.” The agency also is looking into finding “alternative sources of funding above and beyond our annual appropriations structure so that we can better support our trade infrastructure needs,” including ACE staffing and enhancements, he said. It is also looking for updates “that expand our ability to share more information with trade and clarify how we use data ourselves,” he said.

A new task force working on an update for CBP's statutory authorities hopes to complete initial refinements to a set of “legislative concepts” identified by CBP by the end of July, Wright said. “The end state that we are aiming for here is something that trade as a whole can get behind and help support because it reflects all of our interests,” he said. The task force kicked off April 21, he said. “This group comprises brokers, express carriers, sureties, marketplaces, importers, the full gamut of trade roles and equities, including our own in-house subject-matter experts,” he said. The agency didn't respond to a request for a list of task force members.