CBP Considering Electronic Penalty Notices, Still Working Through EEM, Official Says

NEW ORLEANS -- CBP is considering “several plans” to modernize its export penalty process, including one that could allow the agency to issue penalty notices electronically instead of through physical mail, said Brian Semeraro, chief of CBP’s outbound enforcement policy branch. Semeraro, speaking during the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America’s annual conference this week, said CBP is looking at “different ways to utilize the electronic petition processes,” which could reduce “the constant mail back and forth.”

Kim Calicott, export compliance manager for Mallory Alexander International Logistics, said the penalty process is “all letters,” and “sometimes they don't go to the right place.” Semeraro said he wasn’t sure about the exact “details” but said that if CBP chooses to eliminate paper mailings, “they're probably going to have to look at building something out. And, of course, that's going to take time and resources.”

He also noted CBP recently “updated internal policies” to try to rein in its penalties, especially for minor export filing errors that may just be typos. The agency is asking filers to first fix filing errors, “and if it's corrected timely, that cargo can more than likely go on its way. If it's not, then we're going to go back to a violation,” Semeraro said. Penalties aren't “the greatest tool all the time, but it is a tool we have to use.”

Exporters have complained about these “speeding ticket” fines for minor errors in their Electronic Export Information filings despite CBP’s efforts to limit them (see 2212140040).

Semeraro also touched briefly on CBP’s electronic export manifest effort but didn’t give a time frame for when the agency will release a proposed rule mandating EEM. CBP had hoped to issue the rule last year (see 2207290035), but, Semeraro said, EEM for rail, vessel and air is still going through an “economic analysis.” He said rail is “probably the closest one” to being ready “just because that was the one that was first submitted.”

“As they continue to have economic questions, they’ll come back to us, and we'll go back and provide whatever they need to keep the process moving,” he said. “There’s nothing much else we can say.”