Coalition aims to modernize CBP detention, seizure laws

Coalition aims to modernize CBP detention, seizure laws    A new industry coalition was launched this week with the goal of modernizing the detention, seizure and penalty laws administered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the trade law firm Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg said in an e-mail notice Thursday.
   'Fast moving legislation in Washington creates a short window of opportunity to achieve reform,' the firm said. 'The urgent need to reform these laws has become clear to many in the trade community. Importers and others engaged in cross-border trade, already hard-hit by the economic downturn, are needlessly incurring substantial costs when their goods are held up under outdated federal statutes.
   'More sensible laws reflecting today’s commercial realities would enable companies to better identify and correct merchandise defects, increase compliance with proliferating product safety requirements, curb unnecessarily long and costly administrative proceedings, encourage the disclosure and correction of entry errors and promote the flow of legitimate trade to and from U.S. ports.'
   ST&R said the new coalition will work to amend the current detention, seizure and penalty laws so that they:
   ' Apply when an admissibility decision vests in another government agency.
   ' Require detention notices that articulate the type of violation and merchandise defect.
   ' Allow for constructive seizure at the premises of the importer or other interested party.
   ' Provide for the early exclusion of merchandise where parties are uninterested in a long decision-making process or are willing to abandon or re-export the goods.
   ' Consider more favorable dispositions of prior disclosures unless there is actual notice of investigation, not merely references to investigations in oral communication or routine CBP forms such as Requests for Information or Notices of Action.
   For more information, contact ST&R.