Customs reform inches forward

U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) today released a discussion draft of their Customs Facilitation Act of 2024 to modernize U.S. customs laws and streamline the movement of goods and services across our borders.

The discussion draft comes after Cassidy released a framework of the proposal last month and sent a request for information in June last year.

“A trade system that’s simple and workable is a better trade system,” said Dr. Cassidy. “There must be better management of imports and exports. This can protect consumers and make it easier for American businesses to move goods around the world.”

The Customs Facilitation Act of 2024 would: 

• Create a "real One U.S. Government at the Border" through a workable one-stop-shop for data entry and decision-making. [codifies the Border Interagency Executive Council (BIEC)]
• Streamline data requirements.
• Simplify the duty drawback process. [allowing for an accelerated payment for all claims where a bond is filed securing repayment of 100% of the claimed refund]
• Update the U.S. Customs and Border Protection webpage, the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Trade Compliance Handbook, and the accessibility of Customs representatives.
• Encourage more timely responses to trade actions and requests from U.S. government agencies.
• Streamline the export process and ensure that clerical errors are not penalized. [allowing for export manifest data and documentation to be submitted prior to departure.]
• Authorize the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study to examine the duty and fee structure and make appropriate recommendations to Congress.
• Provide enhancements to Centers of Excellence and Expertise.

Last year Senators Cassidy and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced a bill to modernize U.S. customs laws -The Customs Modernization Act of 2023 which has not advanced beyond the Finance Committee.   Mr Whitehouse was absent from the introduction of the current iteration.

The Customs Modernization Act of 2023 (S.3431)

• Expands CBP to access data by allowing access prior to the entry of goods and from parties throughout the supply chain;
• Clarifies CBP’s authority to provide information to relevant supply chain parties when CBP has a reasonable suspicion that goods are counterfeit or otherwise illicit;
• Reduces uncertainty for law-abiding importers while giving CBP the tools they need to hold bad actors accountable;
• Enables CBP to collect more information on duty-free shipments under $800 to better counter illicit trade;
• Cuts bureaucratic red tape, increases transparency of shipments entering the U.S., and creates and appeals process for CBP decisions on imports. 

Last November, Cassidy and Whitehouse introduced the Manifest Modernization Act to improve transparency of shipments coming into the U.S. by standardizing the data requirements for imports regardless of how the cargo is shipped. The bill aims to give CBP another tool to stop the trafficking of drugs and illegal goods.

Click here to read the discussion draft bill text and here to read a one-pager.