CUSTOMS: “DEVILÆS IN THE DETAILS” IN INDUSTRY COALITIONÆS WHITE PAPER
CUSTOMS: “DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS” IN INDUSTRY COALITION'S WHITE PAPER
Executives from a trade coalition of 17 import industry groups met with U.S. Customs officials in Washington Wednesday to present their “white paper” for reforming the country’s import entry process.
“I thought the meeting went pretty well,” said Jon Kent, Washington representative for the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, and member of the trade coalition. “No commitments or conclusions were reached, but I think we’re real close.”
The coalition’s white paper covered six main areas of the import entry process: cargo release and entry tracks, Importer Activity Summary Statement, post release and revisions, money payment, protests, and drawback.
“Our reaction is a positive one,” said John Durant, director of commercial rulings for Customs and author of the Entry Revision Project concept. “Everyone understands where each side (Customs and industry) is coming from.”
But Durant said the white paper was “less visionary” than he had initially expected. “What the trade has essentially done here was to embrace the current import entry process with some modifications,” he said.
With the development of a more flexible computer system, the Automated Commercial Environment, the agency believes that further changes to the import process will be easier to make in the future.
Meanwhile, Customs will take the next several weeks to review the coalition’s white paper and provide its own feedback. “At this point, the devil’s in the details,” Durant said.