Senate Aims to “Reprioritize” Customs Trade Functions
On the eve of the Senate’s departure for the August recess, Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and ranking member Charles Grassley (R-IA) on August 6 introduced the customs reauthorization bill (S. 1631) aimed at strengthening customs facilitation and trade enforcement efforts within the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The two sponsors said the bill’s objective is to “reprioritize” the agencies’ trade functions, saying that both CBP and ICE “must work harder to facilitate trade and enforce U.S. customs and trade laws.”
The Finance Committee leaders plan to schedule a hearing on the bill for early this fall and hope to secure Senate passage by the end of the year. Customs reauthorization is an issue for which the House Ways & Means Committee decided earlier to let the Senate take the lead for this Congress.
“The Customs Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2009” addresses several topics important to SGMA members. Of particular interest are provisions to strengthen intellectual property rights enforcement at the border, to require DHS to identify “concrete trade benefits” for C-TPAT participants, and to create a new Customs Facilitation Partnership Program providing additional trade facilitation benefits. SGMA will be examining these measures closely in the coming weeks to ensure that this legislation supports member companies’ interests to the greatest extent possible.
A Finance Committee summary describes the bill’s key provisions as follows:
- Statutorily establishing CBP and ICE within DHS. The bill establishes and fully authorizes CBP and ICE, which currently exist only as a function of discretionary authority under the Homeland Security Act. The bill also requires each agency to prioritize its customs facilitation and trade enforcement missions.
- Creating New High-Level Trade Positions. The bill creates a new Principal Deputy Commissioner and Office of Trade within CBP with primary responsibility for the agency’s trade mission. It also creates a new division within the CBP’s Office of Field Operations to improve customs facilitation and trade enforcement at U.S. ports, and a new Trade Advocate to act as a liaison between CBP and the private sector.
- Strengthening Trade Enforcement. The bill requires CBP and ICE to prepare a biennial Joint Strategic Plan outlining the agencies’ plans to improve customs‐related trade enforcement. It also requires CBP to develop risk assessment methodologies to better target cargo that may violate U.S. customs and trade laws while facilitating legitimate trade, and to use available import data collected by the agency in its commercial targeting. And the bill expands existing law to prohibit the importation of goods made with forced, convict, or indentured labor.
- Ensuring Import Safety. The bill establishes an interagency Import Safety Working Group, chaired by the Secretary of DHS with the Secretary of Health and Human Services serving as vice chair, to ensure the safety of U.S. imports. The Working Group will assist the Secretary of Homeland Security in developing a Joint Import Safety Rapid Response Plan that describes CBP’s coordination efforts with other Federal agencies to respond to imports that pose a threat to the health or safety of U.S. consumers. And it requires CBP and other federal, state, and local agencies to practice their response plans at U.S. ports of entry. The bill also requires CBP to train port personnel to respond to import health and safety threats.
- Strengthening Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Enforcement. The bill establishes the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center within ICE to coordinate federal efforts to prevent the importation or exportation of goods that violate IPR. It also strengthens CBP’s targeting efforts to detect goods that violate IPR, and requires CBP to dedicate port personnel with primary responsibility for enforcing IPR. The bill also streamlines CBP’s copyright recordation process, and provides CBP with the explicit authority to seize unlawful circumvention devices.
- Improving Trade Facilitation. The bill requires the Secretary of DHS to identify concrete trade benefits for participants in the Customs‐Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Program. It also establishes a new Customs Facilitation Partnership Program that provides trade facilitation benefits for entities that have a history of complying with U.S. customs and trade laws.
- Continuing Customs Modernization. The bill directs the authorization of additional funding for the Automated Commercial Environment and International Trade Data System, and requires CBP to develop a timeline for completing the implementation of these systems. The bill also streamlines CBP’s duty drawback process, requiring that drawback claims be filed electronically and imposing objective drawback eligibility requirements.
- Improving Consultation, Interagency Cooperation, and Oversight. The bill requires the Secretary to consult with Congress before proposing or finalizing any new trade‐related policies or regulations. It also establishes a new interagency Customs Review Board to ensure that proposed changes to CBP’s rules or regulations are consistent with U.S. international trade obligations. And the bill reforms the existing CBP and ICE Advisory Committee to improve consultations between the Agencies and the private sector.
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