INDUSTRY GROUP: USE MERCHANDISE PROCESSING FEE FOR ACE

   Industry officials recommend that the revenue from the Merchandise
Processing Fee be given back to Customs for the development of the agency’s future computer system.
   This view was voiced at a meeting of the Treasury Advisory Committee on
Commercial Operations of the U.S. Customs Service in Washington on Friday. The shippers were represented by companies such as Xerox, Nissan North America, Mattel and Liz Claiborne. Also in the group were attorneys from law firms, such as Sandler, Travis and Rosenberg and Serko and Simon, along with representatives from ports, carriers and customs brokers.
   Customs needs close to $1.5 billion to builds its new umbrella system,
the Automated Commercial Environment. The Merchandise Processing Fee should go toward covering the agency’s system development, said Graham S. Cassano, director of customs and tariff administration for Xerox.
   The Merchandise Processing Fee generates about $800 million a year. That
revenue is put back into the government’s general fund. Customs is still
waiting for Congress to provide funding for ACE.