U.S. CUSTOMS MAKES FURTHER UPGRADES TO LINE RELEASE PROGRAM

   U.S. Customs wants to make it easier for customs brokers and importers to use its automated land-border clearance system, known as Line Release.
   Customs developed Line Release in the 1980s to help relieve congestion along the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico. Cargo eligible for the program are mostly high-volume, low-risk, repetitive shipments.
   The agency has recently upgraded Line Release at all 45 border ports to a Windows environment, which changed the name of the system to Border Release Advanced Screening and Selectivity, or BRASS. Customs also required the agency to make changes to the barcodes used by the system.
   In addition, Customs moved its application-approval process for Line
Release from Washington to St. Albans, Vt. The agency is currently
considering to manage the southern border Line Release program from either its office at Otay Mesa, Calif., or Laredo, Texas. Customs plans to make its decision by January.
   John Considine, Customs’ director of manifest and conveyance told the Northern Border Customs Brokers Association in Arlington, Va., this week that the agency is considering whether to eliminate the process of brokers having to apply twice for Line Release at the port and headquarters level. Brokers would then only have to submit their applications once to Customs in St. Albans, Vt.
   "That’s an admirable objective," said Robert Perkins, vice president of
customs operations at A.N. Deringer. "We fully support that move."