30 October 2008

Customs mum on 10+2

The following is excerpted from the 30 October 2008 edition of “Journal of Commerce”.

Senior officials at Customs and Border Protection now are declining to predict when the agency's new security filing rule, known as 10+2, will be published.

The rule has been under review for months by the White House Office of Management and Budget. The delay has forced Customs officials to remain silent while OMB deliberates, and left members of the trade with nothing to do but speculate.

Deputy Commissioner Jayson Ahern told the agency’s annual trade symposium on Monday that he would not be reckless as he was in September, when he predicted in remarks to the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America that it would be a matter of days or weeks before OMB signed off on the rule.

Ahern insisted, however, that the rule, which will require importers and carriers to file security data with Customs that does not appear on a carrier’s bill of lading, was essential to Customs' security effort.

“This information is the centerpiece of our risk-management strategy,” Ahern said. “I know with certainty this is what we need. The bill of lading doesn’t cut it.”

The alternative to 10+2 -- 100-percent scanning of U.S.-bound containers before they leave foreign ports -- “is looming out there,” Ahern said.

During his keynote address, Ahern said that Customs was well-prepared for the change in presidential administration coming in January. He pledged three things to the trade during and after the transition: Continuity, continued partnerships with the trade and other federal agencies, and an open-door policy to the trade…