Brady to Push for CBP Reauthorization Legislation, First Since 2004
House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) plans to move forward on reauthorization legislation for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, he said during an opening statement before the subcommittee hearing on Supporting Economic Growth and Job Creation through Customs Trade Modernization, Facilitation, and Enforcement. The last time the Ways and Means committee passed a CBP reauthorization was in 2004, and "it is long overdue," he said.
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CBP's Testimony Focues on ACE
CBP Acting Commissioner David Aguilar focused much of his testimony on the improvements CBP has made in transitioning toward ACE. Since 2010, CBP has established the ACE Business Office within the Office of International Trade to refocus the development and identification of program priorities from a true business process perspective and in line with the needs of ACE stakeholders, he said. "Our stakeholders are now represented and involved as never before. We have also made significant improvements in the program’s governance structure, technology management and acquisition practices."
Aguilar said the agency has made substantial progress toward fulfilling the International Trade Data System (ITDS) vision by developing the functionality of three major initiatives. Ongoing testing includes: the Partner Government Agencies (PGA) Message Set, the Document Image System (DIS) and the PGA Interoperability solution. In April, CBP published a Federal Register notice authorizing the pilot of DIS capabilities, which allow trade members to electronically supply documentation needed during the cargo release and entry summary processes to CBP and other federal agencies.
ITDS for Exports
Timothy Skud, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax, Trade, and Tariff Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, used his testimony to discuss ITDS too. The progress that has been made on ITDS for imports has allowed the Board to turn its attention to exports, he said. CBP and the U.S. Census Bureau (which maintain the current export commodity reporting systems) have agreed to expand these systems to include data elements required by other ITDS agencies to enhance their processing capabilities and to support their export-related missions.
Inbound and outbound manifests contain largely the same information, about the means of transport and shipments, he said. In 2010, the ITDS Board also suggested that an automated export manifest system be based on the work already done for an inbound manifest system, which is nearly complete. CBP has decided to use that work as the basis for a new automated export manifest system, which would include single-window capability to deliver data to other agencies, and to link data from that system to export commodity data from AES to improve export enforcement. Finally, an interface is planned between these export systems and USXPort, a Department of Defense automated export licensing application system, which is being expanded under the President’s Export Control Reform Initiative to provide a single-window licensing platform for all agencies that license exports, said Skud.
See future ITT article(s) on other aspects of this hearing.