EMMETT WARNS OF GLOBAL IMPACT OF U.S. CUSTOMSÆ ôSTRAWMANö PROPOSALS
U.S. Customs' “strawman” proposals which would require that ocean, air, rail and truck carriers transmit advance electronic data on inbound and outbound cargoes will affect shippers and carriers worldwide, said Edward Emmett, president of the U.S. National Transportation League.
Emmett told a conference of the U.K. Freight Transport Association in London that the United States has taken the lead in the definition of new cargo data transmission rules for security reasons, but other countries will go through the same process.
“It is wholly reasonable for other countries to start developing their own proposals,” Emmett said. U.S. Customs is directed by law to implement the new cargo data transmission regulations by Oct. 1, about two years after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. “It’s a slow process,” Emmett noted.
He called for global understanding and consistency between policymakers of different countries. “One of the problems is: what if the different countries adopt different requirements?” Emmett asked.
Commenting on the Container Security Initiative of bilateral security agreements between U.S. Customs and customs administrations of other countries, Emmett said the European Commission has criticized agreements made by European countries individually without agreeing on a European Union-wide collective agreement with the U.S. “We have just begun to see some ‘push-backs’ from other countries,” Emmett said. But the program will finally “work out.”
For U.S. inbound cargoes, the “strawman” proposals envisage that carriers transmit cargo data to U.S. Customs four hours prior to loading for trucks, eight hours before for courier carriers, 12 hours before for other air-freight carriers and 24 hours for railroads. A rule requiring 24-hour advanced manifest transmission for ocean freight became effective on Feb. 2. The strawman also describes proposed electronic cargo data transmission for outbound cargoes.
Emmett said the strawman proposals are expected to be implemented with relatively few changes.
The proposals would put increased focus on electronic systems, and may contribute to “increased predictability of supply chains,” Emmett said.
“We’ll see an increased use of logistics firms,” Emmett predicted. He said shippers would not build their own electronic systems to comply with the enhanced cargo transmission rules.