Import safety, customs bills head for vote

Import safety, customs bills head for vote

Related Stories •   Customs brokers caught in import safety legislative net

A consumer product safety bill that contains a penalty provision for customs brokers will probably go to the Senate floor for a vote in the second week of December, trade attorney Jon Kent predicted Thursday.
   The Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act of 2007 targets customs brokers in a backdoor effort to crack down on companies that repeatedly import unsafe products. Senators focused on customs brokers as a substitute for recidivist violators after realizing that importers do not require license to bring goods into the country. The customs broker industry is upset because its members are simply trade intermediaries who are not involved with suppliers and have no knowledge of how a product is produced.
   The legislation is a reaction to numerous recalls of tainted or faulty toothpaste, pet food, toys, tires, fish and other products from China this year.
   Kent, who represents the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, said he is working with Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee staff this week to remove the language that targets brokers. One proposal that has come up would create a “bad guy” list that would be shared with CBP and other enforcement agencies, Kent said at a customs law conference in Washington.
   Lawmakers recently have been pointing fingers at CBP for going too easy on importers by mitigating penalties and fines to low levels. The importer watch list is seen as a way to turn up the heat on repeat offenders of customs and other laws. The list could be drawn up by the International Trade Data System board, which is creating the business rules for a single IT pipeline for sharing regulated import data across all relevant federal agencies, or another independent body so that the agency responsible for enforcing particular regulations can have input into the penalty process, Kent said during a break.
   A flurry of amendments regarding CBP are likely when the bill reaches the floor, he added.
   A companion consumer product safety bill in the House sponsored by Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, will probably move to a vote in early 2008, Kent forecast.
   The private sector mostly supports tighter safety rules, but wants to insure that:
   ' The Food and Drug Administration will follow a risk-based inspection approach similar to that of CBP.
   ' The FDA and Consumer Product Safety Commission receive significant resources for personnel and information technology systems.
   ' These agencies have better communication with CBP at the border, Kent said. A major bone of contention is language that would impose user fees on imported food to help pay for FDA inspections. NCBFAA and other trade groups believe that food safety benefits the population at large and should be paid through the general tax revenue rather than placing the burden on the import sector.
   Meanwhile, the Senate Finance Committee is developing a reauthorization bill for Customs and Border Protection that will create a multiyear funding level, attempt to restructure parts of the agency and make changes to some of its technical responsibilities. Kent forecast that the legislation would emerge sometime in January or February.
   One of the biggest areas of reform is the drawback provision under which parties can claim refunds on import duty payments for goods or components that are later exported out of the United States.
   The bill is expected to create a much more comprehensive approach to duty drawback that will enable CBP to reduce the number of personnel devoted to processing the refunds, require a drawback function in CBP’s new Automated Commercial Environment trade management system and attempt to make drawback a paperless process. In 2004, CBP abandoned paperless drawback efforts because the current Automated Commercial System did not support that type of filing.
   Another priority in the bill will be protection of intellectual property rights, Kent said. Lawmakers, concerned that CBP is under resourced and not sufficiently focused on the problem, are likely to demand some reorganization within the agency, including designating personnel to conduct counterfeit and pirated goods enforcement operations at ports of entry, he said.
   CBP in the past has resisted having inspectors dedicated to a single function because it prefers to have the operational flexibility of moving around staff that can deal with all types of compliance issues. ' Eric Kulisch