On Thursday, February 11th the Senate passed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (H.R. 644) which passed the House on December 11, 2015. The President is expected to sign the bill into law very soon.
The legislation which was developed in this session and previous sessions of Congress includes provisions for trade facilitation and trade enforcement, import health and safety, import-related protection of intellectual property rights, evasion of antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty orders (CVD), amendments to AD and CVD laws, the process for consideration of temporary duty suspensions and reductions, among others.
The provisions of significant importance and benefit to CompTIA members include:
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to ensure that CBP partnership programs, such as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, provide trade benefits to importers, exporters, and certain other private sector entities that meet program requirements
- CBP shall establish priorities and performance standards to measure levels of achievement of customs modernization, the movement of merchandise into and out of the United States (trade facilitation), and trade enforcement functions and programs
- Updated duty drawback laws (refund of paid customs duties) on eligible merchandise imported into the United States and later exported or destroyed
- CBP shall develop and implement CBP-wide Centers of Excellence and Expertise to enhance the economic competitiveness of the United States
- CBP will continue to develop and report to Congress on the progress and status of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system and the International Trade Data System (ITDS)
CompTIA looks forward to working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Partner Government Agencies (PGA) as the implementation of the law progresses.
For more information contact Ken Montgomery, Vice President, International Trade Regulation & Compliance, CompTIA, kmontgomery@comptia.org.
