INDUSTRY GROUP PROPOSES CUSTOMS "MOD ACT II"

   A group of 15 large U.S. importers says the rules that govern how the
industry interacts with Customs are inconsistent with today’s importing
environment.
   "Since the passage of the Customs Modernization Act ("Mod Act") in 1993, Customs has made little progress in automating its systems to allow efficient and less burdensome Customs clearance and trade flow," said the importers of the Trade Compliance Work Group in a letter to Customs.
   "Classification is becoming more complex and paper requirements continue to increase despite the provision for electronic transmission contained in the Mod Act. Penalty liability has increased and more data is requested with no explanation of its intended use. The number of audits has spiraled upward and regulations are more technical and complicated."
   The importers that signed the letter are American Honda Motor Co.,
DaimlerChrysler, Dayton Hudson, Ford, General Electric, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard, J.C. Penney Co., Motorola, Nissan North America, Sears, Sony Electronics, The Limited, Toyota Motor Sales and Wal-Mart.
   "It’s a wake-up call to move outside the associations and put our name on a document to send to Customs," said James P. Finnegan, manager of international trade and compliance for Sony. "All the details and dirty work still have to be done."
   The importers’ letter proposes 10 "action items" that will need to be
addressed with Customs. They include:
   * Revise Customs’ compliance assessment and measurement programs and trade compliance risk management process.
   * Identify information necessary for the clearance of imports, reporting of trade statistics and eliminating redundant requirements.
   * Establish a new process for periodic entries and improvements to the account management program and rulemaking process. The group encourages the development of "Mod Act II."
   The work group plans to kick off its group by meeting with Customs
Thursday to discuss the compliance assessment and measurement program.
   Similarly, the American Association of Exporters and Importers has
created a Mod Act II Task Force, which is chaired by Barry Nemmers of SAP America. The task force plans to meet with Customs and congressional staffers to discuss unresolved issues in the 1993 Mod Act. Members of the task force will also participate in the Trade Compliance Work Group.
   Customs says it welcomes discussion with the industry to update the Mod Act. But the agency warned that it can’t efficiently deal with a broad range of industry groups on this issue.
   "If this thing is going to work to deliver those benefits, then sooner
or later we got to talk to a single group in the industry," said Samuel H.
Banks, deputy commissioner of Customs.