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Transition underway at CBP Trade office

Transition underway at CBP Trade office

   U.S. Customs and Border Protection has named Ann Maricich as acting executive director of the Office of Trade Policy and Programs within the new Office of Trade.

   The announcement was made last week by Assistant Commissioner Dan Baldwin, who heads the Trade Office, during the quarterly meeting of the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee meeting held at CBP’s New York office.

   The Office of Trade Policy and Programs was the only one of four new organizations within the Office of Trade that was not assigned a leader when Commissioner Ralph Basham announced in September the reorganization of trade functions within the agency. The Office of Trade commenced work Oct. 15. The other offices within Trade are Regulations and Rulings, headed by Sandra Bell; Commercial Enforcement and Targeting, led by Vera Adams; and Regulatory Audit, headed by Cindy Covell.

   Baldwin said CBP has notified Congress of its intent to transfer 100 trade and textile enforcement employees from the Office of Field Operations (OFO) to the Office of Trade, effective Dec. 24. On that date Adams, executive director of trade enforcement and facilitation within OFO, will also assume her new duties.

   The recently enacted SAFE Port Act called for a 45-day notification period for any personnel moves associated with the consolidation of trade functions. Basham moved to reorganize CBP’s trade offices prior to passage of the bill.

   Baldwin reiterated that there will be no diminution of traditional trade functions, such as intellectual property rights and textile transshipment enforcement.

   The restructuring brings together various offices with a trade compliance role and gives them a single voice with “greater clarity” for communicating policies to officers in the field, within headquarters and with the trade industry, he said.