E-commerce pilot ‘not a data grab’

   A U.S. Customs and Border Protection voluntary pilot to collect advance information on e-commerce shipments is “not a data grab,” said Thomas Overacker, CBP’s executive director for cargo and conveyance security, at the agency’s trade symposium in Chicago on Tuesday.
   The pilot was announced in a Federal Register notice Tuesday and is scheduled to commence Aug. 22. Nine industry participants will be picked from among e-commerce carriers, customs brokers, freight forwarders and online marketplaces, CBP said. The participants will electronically transmit certain data elements related to their shipments to the agency in advance of arrival in the U.S.
   Overacker said CBP has a responsibility to protect consumers from illicit e-commerce shippers. “The sheer volume in the e-commerce space makes it harder and harder to do so,” he said.
    Section 321 of the 2015 Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA) raised the de minimis value for package shipments to $800 from $200, causing an immediate uptick in e-commerce imports into the U.S. and testing the agency’s ability to effectively stop illicit shipments. CBP estimates that U.S. international mail processing facilities handle more than 1.8 million packages a day with declared values of less than $800.
   “We can’t simply inspect our way out of this,” Overacker said, pointing to the necessity of the e-commerce pilot to find ways to detect packages hiding narcotics and other illicit goods without disrupting legitimate shipments.
   Overacker noted, for example, that it would take CBP officers two to three days to deconsolidate a single truck trailer filled with thousands of small, individual e-commerce packages from Canada to find the illicit shipments.
   Doug Hyland, director of global regulatory compliance for Seattle-based e-commerce company Zulily, said, “The pilot will be a good opportunity to learn about best practices.”
   He added, “We can’t rely on the way things were done in the past. It’s a new space now.” 
   Hyland said it’s important for both CBP and the e-commerce industry to “separate the good actors from the bad actors.”
   Kevin Willis, director of global trade services at Seattle-based Amazon (NASDAQ-AMZN), said, “We are at the apex of a unique opportunity in the U.S.” However, he emphasized that the best way to remove illicit e-commerce shipments is to leverage technology and not to overregulate.
   “We’ve got to bring rationality to this discussion and have a shared mission on compliance,” Willis said.
   Overacker said the 321 Data Pilot will be a collaborative effort between the agency and e-commerce industry. “If it doesn’t work, doesn’t help, we’ll try something else,” he said.