WASHINGTON — The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) held its quarterly public meeting June 14 and unanimously passed 24 recommendations to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including 16 on the agency’s trade modernization efforts, marking a major milestone for the advisory committee. CBP Acting Commissioner Troy A. Miller delivered the opening remarks.
“Thank you, Felicia. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the June 2023 COAC Public meeting. Joining us today, as always, is from CBP’s Office of Trade, our AnnMarie Highsmith, Executive Assistant Commissioner, and John Leonard, Deputy Assistant Commissioner from our Office of Trade.
“Also joining us today is Diane Rodriguez, Acting Executive Director of Cargo and Conveyance Security from our Office of Field Operations. Thank you for joining me today. I also want to recognize from DHS Dr. Tasha Reid Hippolyte, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Trade and Economic Security, from the Department of Treasury, Thomas West, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy and from ICE, James Manning, the acting Deputy Assistant Director of Homeland Security Investigations. I also want to recognize the COAC trade co-chairs, Brian White and Kathy Wilkins. And thank you to the COAC members and members of the public who have joined us online and in-person today. Today, we will receive recommendations from the 21st Century Customs Framework Task Force, the Export Modernization Working Group, the Inbound Working Group, and the Trade Partnership and Engagement Working Group.
“But before we get the discussion going, I wanted to update you briefly on several key items of interest to COAC members and the public. First, as many of you are aware, we are preparing for a 17th term as the current 16th term will end in early 2024. We issued a Federal Register Notice with a request for applicants that just recently closed.
“I want to thank members of the trade community who also applied to COAC 17th term. We appreciate everyone’s interest and commitment. With that being said, there is still a great amount of work to do. CBP is considering our existing working groups, including the Force Labor Working Group, to evaluate our needs and participation. We are also working on the creation of a new working group on de minimis issues.
“Here are a few key updates and developments that have kept us busy since the last time we met in March 21. The 21st Century Customs Framework, 21 CCF, is a key CBP modernization effort that seeks to position the Agency for the Future of trade by identifying critical updates to the CBP’s Title 19 authorities. During the 16th term, the COAC has voted in support of finalizing 17 of 23 CBP 21 CCF legislative discussion drafts, expressed opposition to one, and will share recommendations on the remaining five discussion drafts and on the industry identified facilitation proposals today.
“As today’s meeting marks the conclusion of our consultations on 21 CCF legislative discussion, drafts and industry identify proposals, I want to thank the members of 21 CCF Task Force for their engagement and insight over the years. We look forward to continuing our engagement on these and other recommendations as new modernization ideas are formulated and Congress considers Customs legislation.
“I want to note something important here. Integral to this whole 21 CCF framework, is CBP’s steadfast commitment to transparency and collaboration with both public and private stakeholders, as well as our law enforcement partners. One example of that is how we are combating the influx of fentanyl at and between our ports of entry. We just concluded two operations targeting fentanyl smuggling on the Southwest border, Operation Blue Lotus and Four Horsemen, which led to more than 250 arrests and the seizure of more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl.
“Collaboration with other law enforcement agencies is key to this kind of success, and CBP is now conducting a new enforcement operation focused on the kinds of substances that transnational criminal organizations need to traffic fentanyl, things like pill presses and precursor chemicals. Another example of our commitment to transparency and collaboration involves the automated commercial environment, or ACE, which is evolving to become ACE 2.0. ACE 2.0 builds on the vision of COAC’s Reimaged Entry Working Group, and could be further enabled by the legislative framework of the 21 CCF.
“The goal in developing ACE 2.0 is to provide CBP and PGAs with better quality data much earlier in the supply chain, often in near real time from traditional as well as nontraditional actors. This will vastly increase supply chain visibility as products make their way to the U.S. border, resulting in faster government responses with earlier determinations on cargo. CBP needs authorization and funding to proceed with the proposed acquisition of ACE 2.0 and to begin development, which we expect to take place no sooner than 2025.
“Once we receive authorization and funding, we will certainly ramp up engagement with COAC and our trade stakeholders in the meantime. We are testing out the flexibility of some aspects of ACE 2.0 through Silicon Valley Innovation Program, SVIP Projects. In August 2023, CBP will test the first two SVIP projects that will connect CBP with trade users.
“In 2024, CBP will conduct another SVIP project to test the ability to transmit data to partner government agencies, which will prove the viability of an upgraded single window. For the broker community, this was a significant week. On June 12, DHS Secretary Mayorkas signed the Continuing Education for Licensed Customs Broker Final Rule. The rule amends the CBP regulations to require continuing education for individual customs broker license holders and to establish a framework for administering this requirement.
“While the final rule will be effective 30 days after publication in the Federal Register to allow time for full implementation of the new requirement, CBP will reduce the number of continuing education credits for the triennial period, beginning Feb. 1, 2024. CBP will announce the number of required credits, as well as the date on which qualified continuing broke graduate application courses will be available to individual brokers by publishing a notice in the Federal Register at least 30 days prior to the compliance deadline.
“Turning to the issue of forced labor, on May 30, the trade compliance program of CBP is Customs Trade Partnership Up Against Terrorism, expanded its preliminary hold notification benefit for its partners to include forced labor enforcement actions taken by CBP for a Withhold Release Order or findings of forced labor. The new benefit now provides advance notice to U.S. partners of a possible hold detention, exclusion, and/or seizure of merchandise related to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act WROs or findings after an entry is filed for a shipment of cargo arriving in the United States. This benefit expansion was a result of consultation with the COAC’s Secure Trade Lane’s Subcommittees Trade Partnership Engagement Working Group, which focuses on the aspects of forced labor that impact the CTPAT trade compliance program and its strength and its strengthens partnership between the public and private sector.
“The expansion also shifts the emphasis from compliance to focus a bit more on security and helps better position the industry to address similar cargo from the same supplier or manufacturer before its arrival into the U.S.
“One more CBP development I’d like to mention is the upcoming Green Trade Innovation and Incentives Forum. The event will be held on July 11, in person at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia, and virtually.
“This will be a great opportunity for members of the trade community, academia, civil society, government, interagency personnel, and others interested in green trade to share ideas about the implementation of CBP’s Green Trade strategy. You can register for the Green Trade Innovation Incentives Forum online at CBP.gov until July 5.
“Finally, I want to let you know that the World Customs Organization will select its next secretary general just 10 days from now. I will join 184 heads of customs in Brussels, Belgium, to choose the next secretary general among candidates from Togo and the United States. Many of you will recall that CBP nominated Ian Saunders, a 30-year veteran of Customs and International Trade, as the U.S. candidate for WCO Secretary General. CBP and our interagency partners are confident that Ian has the knowledge and leadership experience to propel the global customs community towards a safer, more prosperous and more inclusive future.
“I look forward to sharing the outcomes of the WCO Secretary General election with the COAC later this summer. In closing, I want to thank my co-chair, deputy co-chairs, co-chair, co-chairs, all the collect members and the members of the public for participating today. Public participants can submit their questions and comments at the designated times. We are accomplishing a lot together and there is a lot more to be done. The collaborative spirit of this group will ensure that the future will be a win-win for everyone.
“Our next public meeting will take place on September 20th here in D.C. metropolitan area. Now, I’d like to give these other leaders an opportunity to say a few words if they would like.”