Customs Committee Agenda for 4/5/07 Meeting - ncbfaa

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The Customs Committee would appreciate the opportunity to reach an understanding with
CBP on this important issue.
13:50 – ACE eManifest
As eManifest becomes mandatory we continue to experience problems related to systems,
training, and acceptance. We can appreciate the investment CBP has made and continues to
make to provide for a smooth transition, and we recognize that our community needs to be part
of the solution and not part of the problem. The Customs Committee believes that in at least
some cases CBP has been reluctant to seek practical solutions to acknowledged issues, allowing
unwarranted penalties to result, the burden for resolution to fall unduly on our members, and our
cost of doing business to unnecessarily escalate. If NCBFAA and its members can be of any
practical assistance to make for a better transition as ACE eManifest advances, this Committee
would like to know the specific means by which that might be done. The Customs Committee
believes that it brings to this meeting important insight into ways by which CBP might improve
this experience. For this discussion we think that the participation of Jim Swanson and/or Lou
Samenfink would be beneficial.
14:40 – Break
15:00 – Recordkeeping Amendments
The Customs Committee’s request for revision of the recordkeeping regulations (see
Attachment “B”) would bring those requirements into conformity with current business practice
without compromising CBP’s legitimate interests to have records available for inspection and
review at the port of entry within a reasonable period of time after making a demand for
production of those records. This very important consideration for our Committee and the entire
customs brokerage industry has languished at headquarters for the last four years. On several
occasions we were told by Betsy Durant that our request had been well received, that proposed
rulemaking could be anticipated, and that we would be well pleased with the revisions. In the
Committee Chairman’s last meeting with Larry Rosenzweig, as Acting Director for the Office of
Trade Relations, he said that he agreed with our request. To this date CBP has offered no
substantive reason for the delay in coming forward with proposed rulemaking based upon our
draft revisions.
For years CBP has publicized its progress toward business oriented and account based
paradigms in rebuilding the agency to better accomplish its missions. Our community has
worked mightily, as volunteers, alongside CBP in the TSN, COAC and other trade support
efforts to help CBP realize its business goals. It is extremely disheartening when we make such
a modest proposal that would greatly facilitate our own business practice without diminishing in
any way CBP’s legitimate interests, and requiring only minimal effort on the part of CBP to
accomplish, to have nothing to show for it after four years. The Customs Committee would
appreciate the opportunity to discuss this item with the Assistant Commissioner and the
responsible OR&R attorney.
15:30 – Emergency Temporary Permit Regulation
In view of the recent creation of the Office of Trade, the imperative for post incident
resumption of trade readiness established in P.L. 109–347 dated October 13, 2006 (The SAFE
Ports Act of 2006), Section 202, and in consideration of the key role played by customs brokers
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