GHY Tradelines

I.E.Canada’s 2nd Annual Ontario Regional Conference aims to provide participants with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in today’s rapidly changing global trade environment.

On Day 2 of the conference (May 15), GHY’s Executive Vice President Reynold Martens will present a session entitled “Integrated Trade Compliance Strategies: 7 Best Practices of Leading Traders.”

In a world of increasingly complex international supply chains, trade compliance expectations placed on Canadian importers and exporters have never been higher. Companies that integrate effective compliance remediation mechanisms into their processes of governance, business operations, sourcing and sales, will benefit from reduced regulatory risk and enjoy competitive advantage. This presentation unpacks the essential elements required to make it happen.
 

(Journal of Commerce – Bill Mongelluzzo)

New offices join two others intended to bring consistency to commodity classification and clearance

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner David Aguilar announced Thursday that CBP will establish new Centers of Excellence and Expertise in Detroit and Houston, bringing to four the national centers designed to bring more uniformity and industry knowledge to Customs’ operations.

Centers of Excellence and Expertise are commodity-specific offices where Customs concentrates a variety of its specialists who share information with the private sector, and vice versa, to ensure that Customs treats the classification and clearance of products consistently throughout its more than 300 seaport, airport and border crossing entry points throughout the U.S.

Customs last October established its first two CEEs. The New York center handles pharmaceuticals and chemicals and the Long Beach center is in charge of electronics imports. The Detroit CEE will be a center for the automobile and aerospace industries, and the Houston CEE will be a center for petroleum, natural gas and minerals. Read more here.
 

(STR Trade Report)

The House Ways and Means Committee will hold a hearing May 17 to inform its development of customs re-authorization legislation. This hearing will focus on efforts to enhance economic growth and job creation by facilitating legitimate trade, modernizing customs procedures and enforcing U.S. customs and trade laws. George Weise, former CBP commissioner and currently executive vice president of Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services, will be among those testifying.

A press release notes that Ways and Means last conducted a comprehensive review of the structure and resources of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from a commercial operations and customs enforcement perspective in May 2010. Since that time “there has been growing concern that, in particular, existing efforts to modernize trade functions, facilitate legitimate trade, and enforce customs laws may not be keeping pace with the growing volumes of trade.” The press release states that CBP has been implementing several programs to automate trade (e.g., the Automated Commercial Environment and the International Trade Data System), improve compliance and identify shipments that violate U.S. laws and that the trade community has made large investments in international supply chains through advance submissions of cargo data and partnership programs between government and business (e.g., the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism). The May 17 hearing will explore how these enhanced targeting and screening tools can be improved to reduce costs, smooth movements of legitimate trade by trusted partners and increase compliance. The hearing will also address how CBP manages its resources and whether any structural or other changes are needed to ensure that it can effectively enforce U.S. customs and trade laws, including in the areas of anti-dumping and countervailing duties, intellectual property rights and textiles.

Both the House and Senate have been working on customs re-authorization bills for some time. Click here for a list of topics that could be included in this legislation.
 

(Postmedia News – Rebecca Penty)

Countries that have responded to projected increases in demand may squeeze us out: expert

Canada desperately needs to speed the development of its liquefied natural gas industry or risk falling behind in the rush to supply international markets, Ernst & Young warns in a report released Thursday. Canadian natural gas exports have suffered as new drilling techniques drove up supplies in the U.S., reducing prices and Canadian exports along with them. As such, it is vital Canada speed development of LNG export projects to find new markets, particularly in growing Asian economies Ernst & Young argues in its report, which puts the tab for infrastructure needed over the next decade at $50 billion.

Low natural gas prices are forecast for years to come, amounting to an erosion of Canada’s primary market south of the border, which means moving quickly on gas exports across the Pacific is critical, said Lance Mortlock, senior manager in the consultancy’s oil and gas advisory practice. “We really don’t think Canada has a choice,” said Mortlock. “The opportunity window will be open for a finite period of time. Certain companies are asking ‘Canada has these resources; can they get those resources to the Asian market and can they do it quickly?’ Read more here.