GHY Tradelines

(San Diego Reader – Matt Potter)

San Diego’s Alan Bersin, who quit his post as Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection just before his so-called recess appointment ran out at the end of the year, has been given a new job in the Obama Administration.

At a changing of the guard ceremony in Washington Friday during which ex-Border Patrol chief David Aguilar was sworn in as Bersin’s CBP successor, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano revealed the new position.

“Today, I’m pleased to announce that President Obama has appointed Commissioner Bersin to serve a new role within DHS – that of Assistant Secretary of International Affairs. DHS could not succeed in its mission without strong international partnerships and engagement,” Read more here.
 

(Nelson Balido — Security Debrief)

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin last Thursday announced his resignation effective December 30. For folks who monitor border trade and security issues, this wasn’t exactly a surprise. But it was still a disappointment.

In March 2010, President Obama appointed Mr. Bersin CBP commissioner through a recess appointment (when Congress was out of session). This was a case of the president having grown tired of the Senate Finance Committee’s failure to do its job and act on the president’s formal nomination of Mr. Bersin to lead an agency that is critical to the country’s security and economic health.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus convened his committee in May 2010 to consider the Bersin nomination. Unfortunately, very little of the hearing focused on Mr. Bersin’s qualifications and the pressing need to confirm the president’s nomination for an agency that, as Sen. Baucus said in his opening remarks, “is the face of America.” [...]

While I’m disappointed that Mr. Bersin didn’t get a chance to continue as commissioner, it would not be accurate to say that the trade community is saddled with a consolation prize. It’s just the opposite.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made the right choice in naming deputy commissioner David Aguilar as the new acting commissioner and Tom Winkowski, who currently heads CBP’s field operations, as the acting deputy commissioner. Read more here.
 

(Homeland Security Policy Institute – David Olive)

In just over two weeks, barring an unanticipated miracle, CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin’s recess appointment will run out. There are many positive things that can be said for how Bersin handled his tenure at CBP, not the least of which is the excellent job he did in reaching out to private sector stakeholders. […] Nevertheless, since it does not appear that Bersin’s nomination is going to be approved by the Senate, reportedly due to the objection of Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) who is Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, one would have thought DHS or the White House would have announced by now the plan for filling the position once Bersin leaves.

Until DHS or the White House make their plans for Bersin’s replacement, even on an acting basis, clear and unequivocal, one wonders whether they even care about who leads this vital organization. If they do care, their silence is sending a disturbing message to CBP’s employees, partners and stakeholders. Read more here.
 

The following statement was issued by CME President & CEO Jayson Myers:

Earlier today, CME hosted a members-only roundtable with US Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin to push for streamlined and harmonized processes for the movement of goods and people across the Canada-US border.

While Canada and the United States enjoy the most robust trading relationship in the world, we don’t simply trade with each other; we build things together. Our manufacturers complete globally together. We are each other’s most trusted and secure trading partners. At the same time, over the past decade, each of our countries have introduced a myriad of complex regulatory and security barriers at the border that have substantially increased the cost and uncertainty of shipping people and goods between our countries.

We constantly hear from our members right across the country about the challenges, uncertainties, and costs associated with crossing the Canada-US border. Companies have become frustrated with the lack of benefits available to those that have partnered with governments in low-risk trusted trader programs; the lack of coordination and the amount of duplication between government departments on reporting requirements; and, the overall difficulty and ever-changing requirements faced by business travellers.

Today, with the integration of our industry across North America, border delays and regulatory hurdles cost industry in Canada and the US an estimated three per cent of the total transaction value of trade between our countries, or more than $13 billion annually – costs which are not incurred by foreign manufacturers who import finished goods to market in either Canada or the United States. This puts domestic industry at a competitive disadvantage in its own market.

The border is no longer a physical location for companies. The border has now been pushed back to the factory and into the supply chain with the request for data and paperwork from dozens of government agencies well before a shipment ever sees the physical border crossing. This data must be sent to and approved by each individual agency before shipments can cross. While this might make sense on a shipload of goods from Asia, considering 60 per cent of shipments across the Canada-US border are intra-company, it simply creates a needless pile of data for both companies and the government. This is the thickening of the border that is so often discussed, and there can be great economic and security benefits for doing it smarter and more efficiently.

The meeting with Commissioner Bersin allowed CME and its members to continue to push for its three point plan to simplify border processing that has been supported by industry in both Canada and the US, including:

1. Harmonize and expand trusted trader programs, including the elimination of transactional reporting for qualified companies;
2. Implement harmonized government-wide single-window reporting; and,
3. Reduce barriers to the movement of business personnel.

For the CME’s full recommendations to governments for the Beyond the Border Working Group, go here.
 

(Steven Chase — Globe & Mail)

On the eve of a perimeter security deal between Ottawa and Washington, the top U.S. customs official is championing the idea of a “thinner” border for low-risk traffic as he seeks to reassure Canadians he understands what they want from the controversial agreement.

Alan Bersin, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, says he wants to make it easier for legitimate travellers and cargo to enter the United States so both countries can focus on high-risk traffic instead.

He said under the deal Canada and the U.S. would exchange information on risky travellers and cargo, but not on all traffic. “It’s not to willy-nilly share data that would violate notions of privacy and civil liberties … but to share alerts and alarms that are being raised,” he said.

The U.S. border czar was in Ottawa on Monday as the clock ticks down on an announcement of the “action plan” for the Canada-U.S. perimeter deal to ease trade and travel between the two countries after a decade of thickening security measures. Read more here.
 

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

Officials will receive detailed reports on goods, allowing quicker cargo release times

Customs and Border Protection officials said Monday it will launch a “simplified entry” pilot project, the first step in a move to expedite the entry of goods into the U.S. in exchange for detailed import data at least one full day in advance.

The project, the result of an agreement between the trade and Commissioner Alan Bersin, permits qualified importers to submit entry data on cargo well in advance of its arrival at U.S. ports, at which point Customs can release the goods.

Simplified entry combines elements of the Importer Security Filing rule with the entry document itself, effectively eliminating one step in the traditional process. Customs began enforcing the ISF rule, also known as 10+2, in 2010. It requires importers to report 10 data elements – and carriers two elements – about the cargo no later than 24 hours before it leaves a foreign port. Read more here.
 

(Journal of Commerce Online – Bill Mongelluzzo)

Bersin tells COAC meeting goal is to blend security, trade facilitation

Members of the trade community say the Customs and Border Protection still has a long way to go in its efforts to blend trade facilitation and supply chain security to ensure a seamless flow of legitimate goods.

“If feeling good is an objective, we’re making progress,” said Jeffrey Whalen, assistant general counsel for customs and international trade at shoe manufacturer Nike.

CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin sought to address that skepticism at a meeting in Long Beach, Calif., Thursday of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations, telling the group, “Trade facilitation and security are one and the same.” Bersin said the agency is engaging the trade community through initiatives and pilot programs such as account management, the Center of Excellence and Expertise and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism with that central idea in mind. Read more here.
 

(Buffalo News – Jerry Zremski)

Would ease traffic on two crossings

In hopes of reducing congestion on the Peace and Lewiston-Queenston bridges, the U.S. government will start a pilot project later this year to preclear some trucks and cargo in Canada before they reach the border.

Speaking at a House Judiciary subcommittee Tuesday, Alan Bersin, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said the project would be aimed at routine cargo that could be shipped safely into the U.S. without inspection at the border.

The program is intended both to speed truck traffic at the bridges and to better focus resources to make the border more secure, Bersin said at the hearing, which dealt with security issues along the Northern Border.
 

(Colin Freeze — Globe & Mail)

When it comes to the threat of terrorism, the Canadian border is a bigger problem than the Mexican one, a U.S. security official says.

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin said he is concerned that potential terrorists are exploiting Canadian loopholes to gain entry to the United States.

“We have had more cases where people who are suspected of alliances with terrorist organizations, or have had a terrorist suspicion in their background – we see more people crossing over from Canada than we have from Mexico,” he said during in his testimony to the U.S. Senate this week.

The remarks will grate on Ottawa officials, who frequently try to persuade U.S. counterparts that the terrorist threat emanating from north of the border is not that bad. Read more here.

Related: U.S.-Canada Border Not Secure: U.S. Official (Toronto Sun)
 

(AP-Washington Post)

Sen. Charles Schumer is convening a Senate committee hearing to press for updates on security initiatives along the northern border.

The New York Democrat is on the subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security. Tuesday’s hearing in Washington will include testimony from Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton, as well as Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Alan Bersin. Read more here.
 

(American Shipper)

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin on Wednesday announced a goal to increase the number of firms that voluntarily participate in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism from slightly more than 10,000 today to 40,000 within five years.

The security program is designed as a force multiplier to keep contraband and terrorist weapons out of import containers so that CBP doesn’t have to spend resources checking cargo in which it has a high-level of confidence. Shippers who implement approved security plans for their international supply chains are certified and their cargo on average is five times less likely to receive a non-intrusive imaging exam, depending on the tier of security they have achieved, according to CBP officials.

Other stated benefits include first-in-line treatment if a container must be X-rayed or physically searched. CBP has been challenged so far trying to communicate when that takes place so shippers understand the advantage they received. Read more here.

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

Customs commissioner envisions ‘grand bargain’ between agency, shippers

Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Alan Bersin for the past year has touted a “grand bargain” with the shipping trade in which Customs promises expedited treatment of cargo in exchange for more information from the shipper. In a speech Thursday at the agency’s 11th trade symposium and a meeting with reporters, Bersin filled in some of the outlines of what the grand bargain would be.

Bersin said the ultimate benefit would be the release of shippers’ cargo before it lands at a port, but to reach that goal, Customs and the trade will have to adopt new ways of doing business.

“If you can give us the information earlier, we can make a decision earlier. To do that, we will need information earlier and expedited responses to any questions that arise,” Bersin said. Read more here.

(Journal of Commerce Online – Bill Mongelluzzo)

Bersin says cooperation key to single window for government agencies

The Commissioner of Customs feels the partnership between his agency and the private sector has done a good job in extending cargo security beyond the borders, but more must be done to streamline the entry and post entry processes as cargo enters U.S. seaports, airports and land border crossings.

The next steps in the evolving partnership between Customs and Border Protection and the trade community will involve greater cooperation among the many government agencies involved in the clearance of cargo, and providing the trade with a single window through which they can communicate with all of those agencies.

“This will be the key to harmonizing CBP’s relationship with you and with the other government agencies,” Commissioner of Customs Alan Bersin told the annual conference of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America Monday in Phoenix. Read more here.

(Rachel Kingston — WBEN)

Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY) has requested a meeting with the man in charge of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Higgins is hoping to work out a plan with Customs Commissioner Alan Bersin to move the Peace Bridge expansion project forward.

The project’s blueprint calls for the construction of a new, $700 million Customs plaza on Buffalo’s West Side. The Peace Bridge Authority and project engineers say it’s always been understood that the federal government would pay for that new plaza, while the Authority would front the cost of structural improvements to the bridge itself, including the addition of more travel lanes.

But about ten days ago, the Canadian newsletter The Bar-Code Border quoted an anonymous U.S. government official as saying that no federal dollars would be provided to finance construction. Read more here.

Related: Higgins Seeks Talks on Plaza Project (Buffalo News)

(American Shipper)

The involvement of cargo airlines in developing a rule that would require the submission of advance data prior to departure from a foreign airport fits with the new mindset at U.S. Customs that new security measures should enhance the efficient movement of goods, Commissioner Alan Bersin told AmericanShipper.com.

The Department of Homeland Security has said it is exploring ways to get shipment information to feed its automated targeting system before the manifest is filed during flight so that dangerous cargo, like that from Yemen recently discovered on U.S.-bound freighters, can be stopped in the country of origin. […]

At least two pilot projects are being developed to inform the decision-making process. Read more here.

(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.

CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin outlined seven principles that guide his agency in a speech at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC, earlier this month, emphasizing that the facilitation of legitimate trade and travel is as important to national security as keeping terrorists out of the country.

(CSCB – Journal of Commerce)

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

Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin wants to rebuild the agency’s frayed relationship with the customs brokerage community.

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.

pspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: ‘Verdana’, ‘sans-serif’; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 8pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”(Journal of Commerce Online – R.G.Edmonson)?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /o:p/o:p/span/pp style=”MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 10pt” class=”MsoNormal”emb style=”mso-bidi-font-weight: normal”span style=”LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-FAMILY: ‘Verdana’, ‘sans-serif’; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic”Account management to aggregate data for business /span/b/emb style=”mso-bidi-font-weight: normal”i style=”mso-bidi-font-style: normal”span style=”LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: ‘Verdana’, ‘sans-serif’; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”br //span/i/bspan style=”LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: ‘Verdana’, ‘sans-serif’; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”br /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.br /br /Bersin said handling the imports of the United States as millions of lines of separate entries was an outdated practice that Customs must change.br /br /“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.br /br /“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 a href=”http://www.joc.com/government-regulation/brokers-play-key-role-customs-system”span style=”color:#0000ff;”here/span/a. o:p/o:p/span/p

pspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”(World Trade Interactive)?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”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. o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• CBP expects to soon publish in the Federal Register a notice formally withdrawing its 2008 proposal to revoke the First Sale Rule. o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.”o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/ppspan style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial”• 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.o:p/o:p/span/p