U.S. CUSTOMS, INDUSTRY TO DEAL WITH INTERNET ON ACE DEVELOPMENT

U.S. CUSTOMS, INDUSTRY TO DEAL WITH INTERNET ON ACE DEVELOPMENT    When U.S. Customs begins to lay the groundwork of its future computer system next year, the agency will need to take into account the role of the Internet and other future communications technology years into the future.
'    “The system that we program will be the one you’ll have to deal with for the next 15 to 20 years,” said John Durant, Customs’ director of commercial rulings to a group of customs broker and freight forwarder executives during the Western Cargo Conference in Palm Springs, Calif. over the weekend.
   Durant told the executives to get involved in the design process by letting the agency know what it wants in a system.
   “The next 12 months will be absolutely critical for you,” he said. “Do some macro-thinking on where the (Internet) environment is going to take you.”
   Customs is also grappling with the application of current and future regulations and policies to emerging Internet-driven trade. “There’s no question that the legal structure is running to catch up,” Durant said.