U.S. Customs gains limited access to export data for Mexico

U.S. Customs gains limited access to export data for Mexico

   U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans has granted a request by the Department of Homeland Security and its Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to share export data controlled by the Census Bureau in order to help Mexican authorities identify cargo that has been improperly declared to avoid higher duties, according to sources in both departments.

   Homeland Secretary Tom Ridge is expected to sign by today the memorandum of understanding formalizing data sharing procedures between the agencies.

   The request is an outgrowth of a March 2002 smart border accord to improve security between Mexico and the United States that among other things called on both countries to exchange data on export and import transactions. The United States is pushing for greater data exchange for security purposes so it can determine suspicious containers in advance of arrival, while Mexico is primarily motivated by a desire to stop revenue fraud at the border.

   Commerce Department officials stressed that the delegation of authority to Customs is very narrow, thereby only allowing Customs to refer to an export declaration submitted to the Census Bureau to confirm a Mexican Customs inquiry about whether a particular shipment matches the quantity or value declared on the Mexican import document. Messages will only contain 'yes/no' or 'match/no match' responses to specific investigations on imports from the United States.

   'We won't be disclosing any of the specific raw data,' a high-level Commerce official said.

   The issue of sharing export data is highly charged because U.S. industry worries that proprietary information could fall in the hands of overseas competitors and jeopardize export business if it is widely shared.

   The official emphasized no other agencies and no other countries are involved in the data sharing arrangement between the two departments.