ROSENGARDEN TO HEAD ITDS BOARD

   Eugene Rosengarden will take over as chairman of the International Trade Data System’s board.
   ITDS is a system designed to operate as a switchboard to distribute
shipment information to any of more than 100 government agencies.
   The system has been in development for the past two years. The
multi-agency link promises to change the way the government processes
import and export data.
   But many questions have emerged among industry and government officials in recent months about how the system would be managed and funded. The controversy was compounded by Customs’ efforts to develop its future umbrella system, the Automated Commercial Environment. Both systems are competing for funds from Congress.
   Deputy Assistant of Secretary of Treasury John P. Simpson, resigned as chairman of the ITDS board after it was decided earlier this month to hand over the system’s development to Customs. The ITDS board is expected to still have an oversight role in the system’s development.
   Simpson picked Rosengarden to be his successor. Rosengarden, director of the International Trade Commission’s Office of Tariff Affairs and Trade Agreements, is best known for his recent attempts to reduce the size of the U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule.