Coalition for a Prosperous America Blasts Customs Modernization Bill

Coalition for a Prosperous America, an organization that has been arguing that de minimis should only apply to gifts and goods brought by consumers as they return from abroad (see 2312140046), wants to kill the Customs Modernization Act of 2023, the bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate that would update CBP authorities in a number of areas (see 2312110048).

Charles Benoit, trade counsel for the advocacy group, wrote Jan. 4 that the bill "makes things worse" with regard to de minimis oversight. Benoit complained that allowing parties other than importers to provide advance data -- customs brokers are still required to certify entries -- "destroys a central principle of customs law."

"The entire reason we demand that importers have a financial interest in the merchandise they import is because we want them to be knowledgeable about the import so they can answer questions about it," he wrote. "They should not have to defer to someone else!"

He also complained that online platforms only have to provide information "on the basis of reasonable belief," which he says means no one will be prosecuted. He noted that some of these platforms are abroad, and therefore cannot be summoned.

He said it's hard to prove fraud, so the elimination of the gross negligence standard weakens enforcement.

Section 401 of the bill repeats the typical three-times-the-amount of duty civil penalty, but Benoit said that level of penalty is "a joke" in the small package environment.

"Imagine Amazon’s fear of having to pay $6 because they 'unreasonably' violated their 'beliefs' and misclassified an item with a $2 duty," he wrote. "Think any customs officer will ever waste their time on this? No. The penalties are a mirage to give legitimacy to anarchy."