CBP Commissioner Envisions Redefined Relationship with Trade Community

(World Trade Interactive/STR)

At the annual WESCCON conference in San Diego Oct. 23, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin gave a major policy speech outlining his vision for the future of CBP and its relationship with the trade community.

Reassessing Trade Processes

Bersin said CBP is in the early phases of developing several concepts that would improve trade processing.

• risk-based account management, which would seek to raise compliance by focusing on areas of risk rather than volume and by expediting trade with trusted partners through improved targeting and risk segmentation

• simplified entry and financial processes that would expedite legitimate trade, provide for earlier release decisions and streamline the submission of information and payments

• establishing centers of expertise and excellence, a virtual concentration of CBP personnel who would leverage expertise and provide uniform guidance

• finding ways to leverage the investment made in the Automated Commercial Environment to ensure that it fully supports account management efforts

“Whatever form these initiatives ultimately take,” Bersin stated, “they signal a fundamental transformation of our relationship with the private sector” into one that “significantly enhances supply chain security, improves enforcement of trade laws, and expedites legitimate commerce.”

Customs Brokers

Bersin reassured customs brokers that “the changes CBP is proposing will certainly not be the demise” of their industry. Instead, these changes will help brokers help their clients do business more efficiently. For example, brokers will be “critical” to making account management work, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. “With management by account, instead of managing shipment by shipment, we will be managing the larger final transaction,” Bersin said. “Customs will still have to determine the admissibility of shipments, but the overall process will be simpler and more efficient.” CBP also hopes that brokers will serve as the agency’s “boots on the ground” in efforts to intercept counterfeit goods and ensure import safety. “We can’t do our job without you,” Bersin said, “and I am committed to rebuilding our bonds of trust with you.”

Read the complete article here.

Customs Chief Wants Better Broker Relations

(CSCB – Journal of Commerce)

CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin concedes working partnership ‘polarized’ over demands

U.S. Customs and brokers traditionally worked together in what Bersin called village atmosphere to facilitate trade and to ensure import duties were paid and contraband did not enter the country. However, the September 11 terror attacks changed that as the agency took the lead in fighting the potential for terrorist exploitation of the supply chain, straining relations with trade facilitators as requirements and restrictions mounted.

“The village has been polarized,” Bersin told the annual Western Cargo Conference of the Pacific Coast Council of forwarders and brokers in San Diego. Read more here.



 

Brokers to Play Key Role in US Customs System

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

Account management to aggregate data for business

Customs brokers will play a key role in getting small and medium sized businesses into a Customs and Border Protection account management system, Commissioner Alan Bersin told members of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America on Monday.

Bersin said handling the imports of the United States as millions of lines of separate entries was an outdated practice that Customs must change.

“We have to aggregate this data and approach it in a simplified fashion, and that’s what management by account is intended to accomplish,” Bersin said. “It strikes me that the customs broker is absolutely critical in making account management available to small and medium-sized businesses.

“It’s going to require that we collaborate and figure out how the customs broker can help perform the aggregating tasks that will be required,” Bersin said. “It is a new set of responsibilities but I think your association recognized from the beginning that this is an evolving profession.” Read more here.

CBP Commissioner Addresses Trade Community Concerns

(World Trade Interactive)

In an undated letter to various trade groups, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin responded to a number of issues raised by the trade community at an April 7 roundtable meeting, as follows.

• CBP expects to soon publish in the Federal Register a notice formally withdrawing its 2008 proposal to revoke the First Sale Rule.

• CBP also expects to soon publish in the Federal Register a notice addressing its July 2008 proposal to establish uniform rules governing determinations of the country of origin of imported merchandise.

• CBP is working to determine whether it could disclose, prior to seizure, information that could be used to identify intellectual property infringement and whether any legislative or regulatory changes would be needed to accomplish this task.

• CBP has drafted a proposed rule that would increase the values for de minimis and informal entry shipments and expects to conclude within the next two months an economic analysis of this proposal. Following that, the rule will have to be reviewed by the Treasury Department.

• CBP hopes to publish by the end of 2010 a proposed rule that will make “substantial” regulatory changes in order to revise and modernize the in-bond process. These changes are expected to include a transition from a paper-dependent entry process to an automated/paperless process as well as tools for CBP to better track in-bond merchandise.

• The assistant commissioner, Office of International Trade, does not review every ruling CBP issues but, in response to complaints from the trade community and Congress about policy changes being made without proper consultation, does review those rulings that result in a change of position. CBP is also developing an internal process to highlight to management any substantive regulatory initiatives, major proposed rulings and modifications of existing rulings prior to their publication.

• CBP is developing a plan to add data elements required by government agencies participating in the International Trade Data System to the data currently received in the Automated Commercial System using the ABI message layout. This data will be transferred to the Automated Commercial Environment and stored and made available to those agencies via the ACE Portal.

• CBP does have a backlog of protests and internal advice requests at headquarters, intends to add additional personnel to the branches responsible for these cases and is piloting a project to make increased use of the National Commodity Specialist Division in the analysis of these cases.

• In response to a request for Free And Secure Trade lanes to begin further back on roads leading to border crossings, Bersin indicated that CBP itself cannot make this change but “would be favorably disposed to approaching the relevant authorities with the trade community to seek solutions in specific locations.”

• On June 9 CBP’s Office of Field Operations reissued internal policy guidance directing that non-security and trade compliance inspections be conducted at ports of entry or unlading instead of ports of arrival.

• CBP will begin to offer two annual C-TPAT conferences a year, one on the West Coast and one on the East Coast or in the Midwest. Each seminar will accommodate approximately 1,200 attendees. CBP is exploring the possibility of webcasting these events.

• A task force created to develop initiatives to allow CBP to manage by account is reviewing the role of account managers, CBP’s account-based risk management efforts, simplified entry and financial processing, and ACE’s role in managing by account.

• The Office of Trade has piloted a two-week advance training session on free trade agreements, other preference programs and textiles that will be rolled out this summer for import specialists and others charged with enforcing such provisions.

• Bersin declined to allow foreign drivers to reposition in the U.S. foreign-based trailers that did not enter and/or will not leave with the same driver. The trade community argued that this flexibility would improve driver and equipment efficiency and reduce truck emissions.

New Customs Commissioner Wants More Information, Promises More Benefits

(World Trade Interactive)

Judging by his remarks in various settings in recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin is working to make CBP a better partner with the trade community. Like his predecessors, Bersin has maintained that CBP’s primary role is guarding U.S. borders against dangerous goods and people. However, he has placed more emphasis on the need to reward traders who participate in security-related initiatives with tangible benefits that help expedite their shipments across U.S. borders. He has also stressed the importance of better coordination and cooperation between CBP and the private sector.

“CBP has made tremendous progress with our security mission, and now is the time for us to take those abilities and apply risk segmentation strategies, which will allow us to move low-risk trade and travel across our borders more efficiently, expeditiously and securely,” Bersin said at a May 20 hearing before the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee. “Risk management and advance targeting approaches enhance CBP’s ability to identify and expedite trade, and expanding partnerships with the trade community is vital to this facilitation effort.” Read more here.

Commissioner Bersin Addresses Exporter/Importer Conference

(CBP)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin... spoke to members of the American Association of Exporters and Importers at their 89th annual conference, which was held in New York City.

Commissioner Bersin began his comments by noting that this was his first speech to this audience as commissioner and thanked all in attendance before discussing one of his early priorities. “This morning I would like to talk candidly with you about repairing and building our relationship together. That is why I promised to speak at this important event to demonstrate my commitment to you,” said Bersin.

While the security of the United States and its people are of primary concern, Bersin spoke of strong goal of promoting American economic competitiveness throughout the world, elevating the U.S. economy.

As he briefly described his background, Bersin noted that he had been out of the law enforcement arena for 10 years, but was reinvigorated to be part of this organization. He said that CBP is still in its infancy, but with an enormous responsibility to the American public, of securing the U. S. from terrorism and other that would do the nation harm while assuring the flow of trade and international travel.

Commissioner Bersin stressed the importance of participating and fully engaging in programs such as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and various trusted traveler and known shipper programs. He explained his “90/10” philosophy, saying that 90% of the problems are incurred by only 10% of the importers or exporters.

Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection: Who is Alan Bersin?

(AllGov.com)

It remains to be seen just how long Alan Bersin will be serving in the Obama administration as head of Customs and Border Protection. Given a recess appointment by President Barack Obama, Bersin must receive Senate confirmation before the end of 2011, or else step down. His efforts to win over key senators did not go well in May during a hearing to vet Bersin’s qualifications and background.

Bersin apparently did not complete employment-verification forms for his 10 domestic workers—forms that tell the government whether someone is hiring illegal immigrants. The man chosen to be in charge of protecting the nation’s borders said he was unaware that he was required to fill out such paperwork during the 17 years he had hired the servants.

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) said he found it “incredible” that Bersin didn’t know of the requirement. “That just doesn’t pass the credibility test,” said Baucus.

Bersin’s neglect to file the paperwork was also surprising in light of the fact that he held the post of “border czar” during President Bill Clinton second term. His second chance to serve in this role broke a pattern of accepting government appointments to posts for which he had little prior experience. Read more here.

Despite Path, Customs Head Eyes Long Tenure

(Mike Levine — Fox News)

The key administration officials recently installed by recess appointment can serve in their new jobs through the end of next year, but at least one of them says he plans to keep his job for much longer than that.

Alan Bersin, who last year became the Obama administration’s point man on border security issues, is now the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, part of the Department of Homeland Security.

“I look forward to a good and candid and fruitful series of exchanges over the next number of years,” Bersin told a group of reporters on Wednesday, in his first face-to-face with the press since becoming commissioner.

Asked by Fox News whether that means he’s planning to be CBP commissioner beyond what the recess appointment allows, Bersin said: “Absolutely.”

Such a move would require Senate confirmation, but Bersin said he hopes to prove himself to skeptical members of Congress in the months ahead. Read more here.