Leonard Asks AAEI to Lobby Congress for UFLPA Staff, ACE 2.0 Funding

CBP hopes that the customs modernization law is passed in time to use its authorities in the reprogramming of ACE, with a goal of providing CBP and partner government agencies "with better quality data, much earlier in the supply chain, often in real time," John Leonard, deputy executive assistant commissioner in CBP's Office of Trade, said June 20.

Speaking at the American Association of Exporters and Importers annual conference, Leonard said the effort "will massively increase supply chain visibility, as products make their way to the U.S., resulting in faster government responses, with earlier determinations on cargo. And, I would add that small package de minimis shipments are very much a part of this effort," he said.

An executive order during the Obama administration got the ball rolling on ACE, and Leonard said CBP is hearing another executive order may be written to push the whole of government to move toward a true single window, where all partner government agencies run their analysis at the same time as CBP, so that there is one coordinated cargo release. He called that "the holy grail of trade."

ACE 2.0 development won't start until 2025 at the earliest, and CBP needs funding to make it happen. He asked AAEI members to push for those funds.

CBP also is asking for the trade community to lobby appropriators to add more money to the Office of Trade budget. For instance, 38 people were hired to work on the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the previous fiscal year, but the next presidential budget does not cover their salaries. If appropriations are not increased, CBP will have to cut staff not just in the Office of Trade, but in the laboratory division, the office of the chief counsel, and in training, so that those hires can stay on.

Leonard noted that the one-year anniversary of the Uyghur Forced Labor Act is June 21. "We're under a lot of scrutiny for this, from a lot of quarters, in particular the Hill," he said, referring to Congress.

One woman in the audience complained that some of the UFLPA-related decisions at the Centers of Excellence and Expertise are arbitrary, and gave the example of garments that contain cotton grown in India, but ginned in China. She said the specialist asked: "How do you know that there wasn't some China [grown] cotton left in the gin mill when it was activated?" She added, "You just can't get people in Customs to commit to anything, or to give good advice."

Leonard said when he talks with specialists at the Centers, they ask for more training on forced labor. He said the UFLPA law "came rather suddenly," and the workforce has more experience on classification and value issues. "Forced labor is a new animal," he said. "And we need to make sure that folks are trained specifically in it, because it's a different way of looking at a transaction."

In response to a question from International Trade Today, on whether CBP would be willing to release cargo from a container that is not suspected to be made with forced labor when other products in the container have been detained, Leonard said every transaction is different, since each container could be stuffed differently, where it's laden on the vessel. "It's going to be a case-by-case type of thing," he said, adding that CBP does want to see if there are ways "we can efficiently move freight, yet completely uphold the law."

Leonard brought up the new customs broker regulations, saying it probably took too long to get them through, "but I'm happy to get to the finish line on it." He said the Federal Register notice on continuing education (see 2306140063) will be published "any day now," perhaps June 21, but "hopefully this week." He said attending a conference like AAEI's would count toward continuing education hours, and predicted it would not be difficult to meet the standard.