At the American Association of Exporters and Importers’ recent seminar called “Partnering with OGAs on Risk Management and Globalization,” attendees discussed FDASIA, the U.S.-E.U. Mutual Recognition Agreement, and Good Importer Practices – all things one would expect to talk about in relation to importing and exporting today. However, the discussion of CBP’s upcoming Centers of Excellence and Expertise was of particular note.
These CEEs will be industry-specific collections of CBP experts, all located in one place. Each of the ten proposed CEEs will deal in one industry exclusively, and will provide one-stop shopping for answers and compliance enforcement. The goal is to make business more efficient and cost-effective by putting all the processing and enforcement for an industry in one place. CBP currently has CEEs for automotive & aerospace (Detroit), electronics (Los Angeles), pharmaceuticals (New York), and petroleum (Houston), and will soon be adding CEEs for agriculture/prepared products, base metals, consumer products/mass merchandising, industrial and manufacturing materials, machinery, and apparel/footwear and textile products.
The CEE program is another in a long series of steps providing incentives for importers to join the C-TPAT or ISA programs and become “trusted partners” of CBP. The new Centers will provide “trusted partners” with reduced transaction costs, greater transparency, and greater uniformity of action. However, “trusted partner” status will not give companies exemption from the increased scrutiny that accompanies greater expertise – CEE experts will be more likely to spot inconsistencies and anomalies.
The CEE program will change the way importers deal with CBP and the ports; many importers are worried that the relationships they’ve developed over years of working with port officers will vanish – the new structure will move importers from interacting with the ports to interacting with the CEEs, which could be located entirely across the country. Importers should prepare themselves and their products for greater scrutiny in the upcoming years as CBP’s approach to compliance becomes more industry- and expertise-specific. Contact the team at FDAImports.com to learn more about the impact this program will have on your business.
