Possible SIMP Expansion Would be 'Crushing' to Entry Process, NCBFAA Says

As a proposed expansion of import data required under the Seafood Import Monitoring Program heads to conference as part of the House-passed America Competes Act, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s Matt Lahar testified to Congress April 7 that the provisions would be a difficult lift for both importers and the federal government.

Additional data required as part of the entry process for imported seafood under the expanded SIMP “will be crushing to the entry process,” Lahar told the House Committee on Natural Resources in written testimony submitted alongside his appearance at a hearing on seafood traceability and the recent import ban on Russia. “Complete supply chain information, with certifications for each and every entry, provided 72 hours before entry is wildly unrealistic. And it is without precedent.”

The trade group had already criticized SIMP expansion in December, after the provisions were dropped from bipartisan infrastructure legislation but remained under consideration in a separate bill (see 2112200041). Subsequently added to the House China package, it will be the subject of talks to hash out differences with the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act after Congress returns from a two-week break April 25 (see 2204070041).

The provisions would require expanded, “complete chain of custody data” to be submitted 72 hours prior to entry, “with verification/certification by a competent third party of all major transfer points,” according to Lahar’s written testimony. “The bill also expands the scope of SIMP by including all species of seafood and seafood products and widens NOAA’s mission by requiring data on labor conditions in the harvest and processing of seafood products,” he said.

Some at the hearing tied SIMP expansion to the ban on Russian seafood imports, but Lahar told the committee that “SIMP expansion would take years to implement” and “would have no impact on the Russian ban.”

“Many if not most of these provisions would be impossible to implement for years, at best,” Lahar said. “For example, they call for certification of all parties in a seafood supply chain. Yet, no country has such a certification program in place. Designing and implementing a meaningful certification program with controls in place to prevent fraud is difficult. It is never an overnight process. Nor has any thought been given to how those multiple certifications per supply chains would move through the supply chain.”

Nor would CBP’s current systems be able to handle the additional data elements, Lahar said. “There is already a limitation on the number of ‘records’ that can be reported per entry. And the system shuts down for maintenance all too frequently,” he said. “For these very reasons, CBP is looking at ACE 2.0 because the current system cannot function as originally designed in today’s trade environment. The system cannot handle the data requested.”