COAC Urges CBP to Roll Out Electronic Export Manifest

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee is pushing CBP to roll out its long-awaited electronic export manifest within the next COAC term and make progress on aligning truck manifests with both Canada and Mexico to streamline exports traveling by land.

In a set of proposed recommendations published ahead of the Dec. 13 COAC meeting, the Export Modernization Working Group said it wants CBP to release EEM “during the 17th COAC term,” which is expected to start next year. The agency needs to ensure “the release of regulations for all modes of transportation,” the working group said, and continue to “collaborate with the trade to finalize the aligned vision of Export Modernization which includes features such as progressive export filing, automated proof of export to facilitate duty savings programs, and increased facilitation.”

The group has met biweekly with CBP, the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Industry and Security to “push for the development and rollout of” EEM, it said in a summary of its recent work. CBP has been working for years to increase industry participation in the EEM pilot ahead of its full launch (see 2209150014 and 2110180038), and it recently published a paper to outline the benefits for shippers and others who do participate (see 2310200007).

“Our immediate attention this quarter has been to push for the release of regulations for rail, air and vessel,” the working group said, and to “continue to build support for pilot participants.” CBP told the group it’s working on an extension for its current pilot program for FY 2024.

Although EEM for truck continues to lag behind the other transportation modes -- partly because the U.S. is trying to align its manifest with Mexico and Canada, which is taking more time (see 2207290035) -- the Export Modernization Working Group said it made progress during three recent meetings with the Canada Border Services Agency. The group’s Truck Focus Group spoke with Canadian officials about “a future vision to get to a single North American window to reduce duplicative information that is sent to each country or between countries,” the group said. “Deeper dialogue will be necessary from all parties to come to this realization in the future.”

Despite the talks with Canada, the group said it wasn’t able to speak with Mexico’s customs agency and urged CBP to try to set up a meeting. “We feel that a conversation with [Mexico] would be beneficial to CBP and Census to inform them of potential targeting challenges and [logistical] impacts of truck manifest requirements for shipments to Mexico,” the group said.

The Truck Focus Group developed two proposed recommendations: to align the reporting timeline requirements for truck export manifests at one hour to “mirror the 1-hour time frame for reporting for import manifests,” and to better work with Canada to “unify cargo processing and inspections for targeting purposes for truck exports” to “mirror the process that exists at ports along the southern border.”

The group also worked with CBP and Census to come up with a set of “specific data elements” that are “absolutely necessary for North American border crossings" and discussed infrastructure, resources or congestion impacts that may be caused if the government begins collecting that data. The group stressed that some data elements required for inbound shipments “may not make sense for outbound.”

Other proposed recommendations submitted by the Export Modernization Working Group focused on ways CBP can make EEM more user-friendly, including for when it's fully mandated. One suggestion said CBP should integrate EEM into the existing ACE Manifest Trade Portal "to provide a seamless user experience, allowing parties to create, search, and amend both import and export manifests within the same respective portal." CBP and Census should also hold an EEM "training workshop," the group said, and send out automated notifications to the EEM filer when a shipment has been chosen for examination and send notifications to all parties connected to the manifest "upon closing of a specific transaction."