CBP Finalizing 21st Century Framework, Planning for Policy Changes Within One Year
CHICAGO -- CBP plans to present its 21st Century Customs Framework to senior leadership for approval in August and introduce policy changes within the next year, a CBP official said at the agency’s Trade Symposium on July 23. CBP is finalizing a “fairly detailed roadmap” for the framework and expects it to make “measurable, fundamental changes,” Brandon Lord, CBP’s deputy executive director for trade, policy and programs, said during the conference. Since the agency announced the framework with a request for public comments in December (see 1812200003), Lord said CBP has tried to pinpoint “substantive changes” the agency can make through policy updates. CBP has focused on three issues from the public comments, he said: “streamlining the entry process,” “seamless information sharing” and creating a “robust framework for the e-commerce environment.”
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“This isn’t a big effort that we want to collapse under its own weight or a big effort that goes on for three to four years,” Lord said. “We actually want to be able to chip away on this where we can.”
Lord said CBP wants to make the import entry process “more simple” by reducing the amount of data it requests from importers and instead obtaining the data where it “already exists” in the supply chain. “I’ve lost track of the number of times I've heard from somebody in trade: ‘You know we just make that invoice up for you guys. It’s because you guys need it,’” Lord said. “So do we really need to collect that invoice, or is there something else in the supply chain we could be leveraging that makes sense that lifts that burden off you all?”
CBP also wants to improve how it releases important information to the U.S. industry, specifically on “bad actors,” Lord said. CBP has received requests, including from other government officials, to “put out some sort of all-points bulletin” to inform the trade community about new “trends to evade U.S. trade laws,” Lord said. “We want to do it in such a way that the good actors in the supply chain can leverage it and help us drive compliance.”
Lord said CBP is also focused on improving how it can “support more timely decisions” at ports, which is directly related to how well it communicates to traders. Lord said he has repeatedly visited ports of entry and found cargo in holding patterns because either CBP, the broker or the trader was waiting for a response for information. “How do we better exchange information on a more constant, consistent basis so there's just less waiting on both sides?” he said.
Lord listed e-commerce as another broad issue CBP is hoping to address, saying the online trading environment is a “fundamentally different beast.” CBP is looking at which types of advanced e-commerce data is “most appropriate” and determining how to work with both “traditional” and “emerging” supply chain actors to help with compliance.
“We need to take a look at rules and responsibilities within those supply chains and what roles and responsibilities the actors should have in the importation process,” Lord said.