Comments on Notice of Public Meeting on the Green Trade Innovation and Incentives Forum
 
May 22, 2023
 
I.Introductory Comments on CBP’s Notice of Public Meeting
 
The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, Inc.’s (“NCBFAA”) submits the following comments to the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) in response to the CBP’s Notice of Public Meeting published in the Federal Register at 88 Fed. Reg. 24,623 (April. 21, 2023).
 
Headquartered in the Washington DC metro area, the NCBFAA represents more than 1,200 member companies with 110,000 employees in international trade - the nation's leading freight forwarders, customs brokers, ocean transportation intermediaries (OTIs), NVOCCs and air cargo agents, serving more than 250,000 importers and exporters. The Association’s members handle more than 97% of the entries for goods imported into the United States and are directly involved with the logistics of these goods. Further, members operating as OTIs are involved with approximately 80 to 85% of all exports from the United States.
 
II.Comments on CBP’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
 
 NCBFAA applauds CBP for this effort to engage in greener, more environmentally friendly policies, procedures, and practices at our nation’s ports. We look forward to working in partnership with CBP and the Participating Government Agencies (PGAs) to find green pathways forward that meet the needs of all parties involved while promoting environmental responsibility aligned with global efforts to promote uniformity. NCBFAA submits the following thoughts and suggestions for inclusion in the Green Trade Initiative.
 
1.Eliminate Paper Where Possible
 
NCBFAA lauds CBP to move to a totally paperless environment for all trade participants. Past efforts to reduce paper have focused on government paper collection and management, often at the cost of increasing the paper burden on the trade. Our environment needs to see a total trade paperwork reduction where all parties are able to eliminate most-to-all paper. Additionally, actions like eliminating

the need for paper checks, often sent via environmentally destructive overnight mail or courier service, will go far to make trade as green as possible. This can be done by allowing same day ACH payment, opening up payment options on pay.gov and eCBP. As an example, CBP should move towards modernizing the Fines, Penalties and Forfeitures (FP&F) process of mailing hard copy notices. These notices can and should be transmitted electronically. Additionally, a separate SEACATS system accessible to customs brokers for efficient customs process management for FP&F would be helpful until this can be efficiently rolled into ACE 2.0.
 
CBP has pioneered and led the way towards one government system for providing other regulating agencies information required for their mission. Looking toward CBP’s engagement with the Partner Government Agencies ( PGAs), elimination of the redundant requirement for Document Image System (DIS) uploads when full data set is also transmitted to PGAs would be a significant environmental step forward. This should include eCertification for all government-to-government forms so the data moves between systems, eliminating the current requirement to re-enter data provided in the certificate. CBP and PGA field personnel should have quick access to the data in a readable format. For example, currently brokers still have to upload the USDA Permit so the officers can see the full detail of the permit instructions. When we have an inclusive, ‘one face at the border’ system, one eCertificate should cover all of the Meat Certificate data and send the meat certificate to the port with visibility to CBP and all PGAs that have jurisdiction over that entry/data. Currently, ePhyto, plant inspection station inspectors still need copies of e-Phytos as they do not have access to the e-Phyto transmitted through the international e-Phyto hub. PGAs documents that require paper submissions/uploads include:

• Meat Certificates
• Vet Certificates
• CITES
• SIMP
• Phyto Sanitary
• CSD – Cargo Security Declaration

 
Requirements by government to the trade for the presentation of unnecessary documents (reconstructed entries, 100 copies of each entry under one protest to name a few examples) is an unnecessary harm to the environment.
 
 
However, NCBFAA is not advocating for an endless expansion of data, data transmission, collection and storage. NCBFAA supports the TSN comment that data, too, has an environmental cost. Data lakes, and ‘data for data’s sake’ is not green. CBP and the PGAs should engage in targeted collection of data that is vital for the entry and admissibility of goods and shared among all PGAs with trade’s one transmission of said data.
 
Streamlining and updating government processes will also result in the reduction of energy waste, consumed in the performance of activities which bring no benefit. Along these lines, NCBFAA also urges CBP to provide visibility in the Manifest query and Entry of actual vessel statuses, not estimates.

Much time and effort is currently wasted checking multitude of platforms and EDI/API data to obtain actual dates of arrival or entry. All of that time, effort, fossil fuel-powered energy and duplicate effort and data transmission increases trade’s carbon footprint without a discernable benefit to the government.
 
Some additional thoughts and suggestions for making trade green include:

• Eliminate “Paper” Option for PGAs / Protest.
• Ability to file Protests in Automated Broker Interface (ABI) to eliminate redundant data.

 

• Reporting Container Freight Station (CFS) Employees by Paper vs Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Portal.
• Warehouse withdrawal – eliminate the current requirement to resubmit a full set of physical documents to CBP upon final withdrawal.
• Temporary Importation Under Bond (TIB)
  • Closing – eliminate the current requirement to submit closing papers.
  • Grant an automatic 3-year extension instead of a ‘year by year’ request.
• Reduce paper reliance on export controls for vehicles.
• Automate remaining CBP declarations/forms, such as the CBP Form 4811 Special Address Notification, CBP Form 3499 - Application and Approval to Manipulate, Examine, Sample, or Transfer Goods, penalty mitigation processes.
• Standardize definitions/data elements across government regulating trade into and out of the customs territory of the United States.
• Automate remaining off-line duty, tax, fee payments, such as implementing customs broker ACH for refunds and drawback payments.
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 2.Reduce Border Wait Times
 
NCBFAA looks forward to partnering with CBP and the PGAs to reduce border wait times- land, sea, and air. Back-ups delays awaiting authorization to release or move cargo, and idling cause untold environmental damage without an offsetting benefit. Some suggestions for reducing border wait times include:
 

• Export Manifest to automate closing of In-bonds/drawback/TIB.
• Ability to do exams at destination rather than having trucks linger in the 50-mile zone waiting for FDA (or another agency) to “may proceed” a shipment or have a truck turn.
• Extended PGA hours at the ports of entry instead of having trucks sitting idling waiting for “business hours”, or at least some ‘one face at the border’ standardization of hours or service.
• Extend Quota Processing times to 24/7 with ACE quota processing is automated based on fill rate.
• Reliable Data point – Data of arrival / Date of Export / Date of Entry for 301/232/Russia etc.

• Trusted In-bond without having to divert to bonded facility instead of direct to final destination.
• CBP should invest in technology, handheld/mobile devices, screening, scanning, solar power and work force optimization to allow the best CBP and PGA review and release of goods in a timely and efficient manner.
• Add green lanes at land border ports for pre-cleared CTPAT shipments.

 
With our eye toward reducing idling and wait times at the physical border, CBP in conjunction with the PGAs should consider the following import controls that are prospective in nature, starting the process before goods leave the exporting country:

• Detentions / Destructions/ hours to process after importation.
• Violative Solid Wood Packing Material (SWPM) – destroy vs re-export.
• Free Trade Agreements- including uniform, clear guidance on what data/documents are required to validate the FTA. CBP and the PGAs should provide the ability to have licensed customs brokers provide data electronically prior to shipment.
• Eliminate the trade remedy exclusion 301 exclusion for goods transported through the US, into MX, then back into the US as <$800 shipments for distribution. This adds unnecessary trucking, adding to congestion and pollution.

3.Port Uniformity
 
NCBFAA urges CBP and all PGA’s to engage in one uniform federal policy for enhancing the environmental benefits of this green trade initiative. Uniform port procedures and federal standards will reduce the unfortunate potential to shift pollution and poor environmental practices from one area to another.
 
4.Virtual Meetings vs in person
 
NCBFAA supports CBP and the PGAs balancing face to face engagement with the sound environmental stewardship of virtual meetings. Some meetings that CBP should consider expanding their virtual meeting options include:

• Customs and Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT)
• Transportation Security Administration (TSA)
• CBP Broker Visits
• Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other PGA Broker Visits

 

III.Conclusion

 
Given the urgent need for all of trade to come together in partnership for a more environmentally responsible trade process, the NCBFAA applauds CBP taking this first step in soliciting our input in