ROSENGARDEN TO HEAD ITDS BOARD
Eugene Rosengarden will take over as chairman of the International Trade
Data System’s board.
ITDS is a system designed to operate as a switchboard to distribute
shipment information to any of more than 100 government agencies.
The system has been in development for the past two years. The
multi-agency link promises to change the way the government processes
import and export data.
But many questions have emerged among industry and government officials in
recent months about how the system would be managed and funded. The controversy was
compounded by Customs’ efforts to develop its future umbrella system, the Automated
Commercial Environment. Both systems are competing for funds from Congress.
Deputy Assistant of Secretary of Treasury John P. Simpson, resigned as
chairman of the ITDS board after it was decided earlier this month to hand over the
system’s development to Customs. The ITDS board is expected to still have an oversight
role in the system’s development.
Simpson picked Rosengarden to be his successor. Rosengarden, director of the
International Trade Commission’s Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements, is best
known for his recent attempts to reduce the size of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule.