CUSTOMS REPLACES ICMP PROGRAM; TO ADD PERSONNEL AT BORDERS

CUSTOMS REPLACES ICMP PROGRAM; TO ADD PERSONNEL AT BORDERS    U.S. Customs’ Importer Compliance Monitoring Program, a program ending May 30, will be replaced with a new program, a Customs official said Tuesday.
   ICMP’s replacement program will be titled “Importer Self-Assessment (ISA),” said Deborah Spero, assistant commissioner for Customs’ Office of Strategic Trade.
   “We are just rolling that out now,” Spero said of the ISA program, adding that ISA is replacing the ICMP because of lackluster industry participation.
   Spero, speaking at a meeting of the Joint Industry Group in Washington, said Customs will offer benefits to member companies immediately after they sign a memorandum of understanding with the agency for ISA membership. Customs hopes such a move attracts more industry participation.
   “We’re looking to give the benefits up front,” Spero said.
   ISA import members would be their removal from a Customs’ audit pool, she said. “If you are an ISA participant, you will not be subject to Focused Assessment.”
   The ICMP test program, which began in early 1998, was supposed to last for only one year. Customs attempted second test of the program in July 2001, but did not garner any interest.
   Spero said the ISA membership application will require an on-site visit by Customs. ISA membership could be more easily attainable for companies who have made compliance a prominent part of their business plan, and wish to interact with Customs, she said. “This is for companies that are already dealing with compliance.”
   Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner, also at the meeting, said Customs hopes to hire and train up to 1,300 additional Customs agents and inspectors at the nation’s borders by this September. Such a personnel increase was made possible due to a boost to Customs’ budget for fiscal year 2002.
   Customs will probably station a majority of the new hires at America’s seaports and the northern border, Bonner said.