TARGET EXECUTIVE STRESSES CUSTOMS COMPLIANCE

TARGET EXECUTIVE STRESSES CUSTOMS COMPLIANCE    Air cargo industry executives should make customs compliance a priority of their business plan, or face harsh consequences, including steep fines, said a Target Corp. executive Wednesday.
   'If you are a shipper, I empathize with you,' Michael Laden, president of Target Corp.'s customs brokerage unit, Target Customs Brokers Inc., told attendees at the Air Cargo Americas conference in Miami.
   Laden, who has held a broker’s license since 1981, said shippers need to step up their awareness of customs law and compliance to avoid strict fines of up to $1,000 for failure to produce a document to an official.
   No one within an organization, particularly company executives, is immune to punitive measures by the U.S. Customs Service for violating Customs rules, Laden said. “The long arm of Customs can reach all the way to the board members of your company.'
   Laden stressed that companies can train their employees of customs compliance procedures through U.S. Customs' compliance education workshops. “Basically, we train anyone who will listen,” he said of Target. “Never underestimate the importance of routine training.”
   Laden added that there are Customs initiatives in Congress which, if passed, could hurt the shipping industry. Some of these port security initiatives, Laden said, call for inspection of 100 percent of shipments. Laden said that this is impractical, and that shippers need to band together and ask Congress to reconsider such legislation.
   “We should let Congress know you can’t hamper trade, you cannot shut it down, or you are going to destroy our industry,” he said.