COAC and U.S. Government Officials Discuss the International Trade Data System
The Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (COAC) held a quarterly meeting on June 18, 2004 in Washington, DC to discuss and receive updates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials on various trade and customs issues.
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This is Part VI, the final part of a multi-part series of summaries on the June 18, 2004 COAC meeting and discusses the International Trade Data System (ITDS).
(ITDS is the instrument through which federal government agencies participate in the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE). According to the ITDS Web site, the goal of the ITDS initiative is to implement an integrated government-wide system for the electronic collection, use, and dissemination of international trade data. See ITT's Online Archives or 04/16/04 news, 04041610, for BP summary.)
ITDS Officials are Pursuing Additional Agency Participation in ITDSAt the meeting, ITDS officials stated that eight federal agencies are deeply involved in the ITDS process, with 71 other federal agencies interested in international trade information.
ITDS officials stated that they are vigorously working to have 50 federal agencies interested in ITDS by the end of 2004.
(ITDS officials have previously stated that the eight agencies closest to being ready for ITDS are the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Census Bureau, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), International Trade Commission (ITC), and the Maritime Administration. CBP has previously stated that FMCSA will be the first agency to go on-line with ITDS in fall 2004. See ITT's Online Archives or 07/16/04 news, 04071620, for recent BP summary.)
ITDS officials also noted that they had most recently met with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regarding its participation in ITDS, and OFAC was scheduled to participate in the next ITDS workshop.
Standard ITDS Data Set Has Been DevelopedITDS officials stated that they have developed a standard data set for ITDS that will be used for reporting information. This data set is a "baseline" that all of the agencies participating in the ITDS process have agreed upon, with redundant and obsolete information eliminated.
According to ITDS officials, each time a new agency begins its participation in ITDS, the standard data set will be refreshed. However, ITDS officials state that they are finding that even as more agencies are coming on board with ITDS, there are fewer and fewer modifications that need to be made to the standard data set.
ITDS officials emphasize that when a new agency begins its participation in ITDS, it must prove that it has a legitimate "need" for a particular data element (rather than just "wanting" that data).
ITDS Standard Data Set is Compatible with International StandardsIn response to COAC questions regarding the compatibility of the ITDS standard data set with international efforts to standardize data elements (e.g., World Customs Organization), ITDS officials noted that the ITDS standard data set is compatible with those efforts.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 06/22/04, 06/23/04, 06/25/04, 07/15/04, and 07/20/04 news, 04062205, 04062315, 04062510, 04071510, and 04072020, for Parts I-V.)