Customs Reauthorization Bill Necessary to Put CBP Focus Back on Trade, say Senators
Customs reauthorization legislation - an actual, tangible bill - is necessary to help shift CBP's focus back to trade facilitation and codify progress the agency has already made, Senators and industry representatives said at a May 22 hearing on S-662, the customs bill introduced by Finance Committee leaders in March. "The real question is how we reinvigorate this commitment to the trade side of CBP," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., at the Finance Committee hearing. Senators have tried politely asking CBP to do this, through letters and in hearings, but "that hasn't worked," Wyden said. "That's why we felt we needed to have an actual piece of legislation."
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Witnesses at the hearing agreed. CBP has made an "awful lot of progress," since the last Senate customs bill was introduced (though ultimately unsuccessful) in 2009, said Mary Ann Comstock, brokerage compliance manager at UPS Supply Chain Solutions. The new Senate bill is important because it codifies such progress - such as the Centers for Excellence and Expertise - while pushing CBP further forward, Comstock said.
The bill also requires periodic Congressional oversight, giving industry the assurance they've been looking for that resources are being appropriately allocated, said Clark Silcox, general counsel at the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. (See 13032906 for more on S-662, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act.)
All witnesses at the hearing said they supported the bill, particularly its provisions on intellectual property rights enforcement, the de minimis increase and funding for the completion of the Automated Commercial Environment. Committee Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, one of the bill's sponsors, called the legislation "long overdue." As is the nomination of a new CBP commissioner, he said. The agency has been without a Senate-confirmed head since December 2011, "which is far too long."
For more on the hearing, see tomorrow's ITT.