Ways and Means Members Upbeat About Customs Changes

(Journal of Commerce Online – R.G.Edmonson)

Leaders of the House Ways and Means trade subcommittee were upbeat Thursday afternoon about redirecting Customs and Border Protection’s focus to facilitating trade and collecting revenue after a hearing in which government officials and members of the trade community presented a range of ideas to match the movement of commerce to security needs.

Acting Subcommittee Chairman John D. Tanner, D-Tenn., and ranking member Kevn Brady, R-Texas, told trade witnesses the hearing was a good first step toward a Customs reauthorization bill that they expect to introduce before the end of the year.

Tanner and Brady said Customs’ efforts in supply chain security since the September 2001 terrorist attacks had moved resources away from the agency’s revenue functions that are part of Ways and Means oversight activities.

Tanner laid out particular areas that he plans the reauthorization bill to address. They included Customs’ failure to consult with the committee before taking significant policy steps. In the past two years Customs has proposed changes in the “first sale” rule for valuation, and country of origin labeling, only to backpedal when Congress objected.

The future of the Automated Commercial Environment and the International Trade Data System, Customs organization, trade facilitation and security, and new ways that Customs can regulate trade without impairing the flow of goods. Read more here.