U.S. CUSTOMS CLEANS UP OFFICE OF REGULATIONS AND RULINGS

U.S. CUSTOMS CLEANS UP OFFICE OF REGULATIONS AND RULINGS    U.S. Customs has started to aggressively overhaul its Office of Regulations and Rulings to increase the speed at which it issues rulings to importers.
   In recent years, OR&R has been criticized by importers for taking 120 days or more to issue certain types of rulings related to classification and value of merchandise. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner has set a goal to issue rulings in 90 days or less.
   OR&R has about 90 lawyers on staff in Washington, who work closely with counterparts at the Customs Information Exchange and National Commodity Specialist Branch in New York.
   There are about 900 rulings pending in OR&R of which about 800 fall within the more-than-90-day backlog. “We got to clear out the backlog for those cases that have been there for an extended period of time,” said Douglas M. Browning, acting commissioner for OR&R at a Joint Industry Group meeting in Washington Tuesday.
   While under Browning’s management during the past six months, OR&R has successfully closed out more than 600 of the backlogged cases. Most of the backlog involves requests for general classification and textile rulings.
   Browning said his management goals are to eliminate inefficient processes within OR&R’s operations. “We have a product which is rulings,” he said. “As part of that product, we need standards for how and when rulings should be done. We had never had operational standards in place before in OR&R to hold people accountable.”
   Browning said OR&R will implement a new time management tool in May that will assist attorneys to process rulings, a practice already used in private law firms to measure productivity of their staff.
   “It’s not intended to be a 'gotcha' tool for our employees,” Browning said. Customs will use the system to pinpoint weaknesses in the rulings process and direct resources for improvements, he said.
   “There are a lot of many talented attorneys, paralegals, and support staff in OR&R,” Browning said. “My job is to give them the tools and create an environment in which they can do their jobs better.”
   For the importers, OR&R will give them the chance to further address rulings before the agency issues a final decision. This should help to speed up the reviews and result in “better reasoned rulings,” Browning said.