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on that document. The carrier is responsible for preparing the manifest based in
part on information received from the
foreign shipper(s). That information may
well be incomplete, a common problem
with e-commerce shipments. For example, a description of “plastic bags” could
represent anything from food packaging to
parts of medical devices; without an HTS
number, it’s impossible to know.
This situation places customs officers in
a difficult position when it comes to regu-
latory compliance, security, and risk assess-
ment, said an unidentified CBP officer
who was in the audience at the CONECT
conference. An officer must figure out what
to do with no advance notice, very little
information, and a thick pile of paper to
work from, he said. “The officer is forced
to make a decision: Do we delay the truck,
and thousands of small packages, to inspect
them? That would take a whole day.”
Without access to detailed information
or advance notice of a shipment’s arriv-
al, customs authorities are hampered in
their efforts to target suspicious shipments,
Magnus agreed, adding, “Low value does
not mean low risk.”
SEARCHING FOR REMEDIES
With millions of low-value packages shipping daily, the potential lost revenue and
lack of data could have significant consequences. Trade data in countries with large
e-commerce volumes has already become
distorted due to the number of de minimis
shipments, according to the WCO.
Authorities are well aware of the prob-
lems, and a variety of potential remedies are
currently under discussion. For example:
b In February, attendees at the WCO’s
first-ever Global Cross-Border E-Commerce
Conference endorsed a proposed e-com-
merce framework that would standardize
and harmonize customs regulations and
legislative approaches, establish mecha-
nisms for the exchange of advance electron-
ic data, and enhance security, among other
goals. The WCO working group that pro-
posed the framework is also advocating for
simplified processing for e-commerce ship-
ments but with more data points and detail
than most countries currently require.
b NCBFAA, the customs brokers and
forwarders group, has urged CBP to estab-
lish an electronic entry solution
for de minimis shipments with-
in the Automated Commercial
Environment (ACE), an informa-
tion system designed for enforce-
ment of customs regulations and
risk-based targeting of imports.
b CBP in March released an
e-commerce strategy it developed
with input from the Commercial
Customs Operations Advisory
Committee (COAC). That plan
would enhance legal and regula-
tory authorities to better address
threats, help affected CBP opera-
tions respond to the rapid growth of
e-commerce, and drive private-sec-
tor compliance through enforce-
ment and incentives. However,
COAC, which includes a cross-sec-
tion of trade stakeholders, did not
agree with CBP on several proposals,
such as filing Section 321 entries in
ACE and the amount of detail to be
required for product descriptions.
Governments inevitably will try
to prevent e-commerce shippers
from avoiding duties and taxes,
wrote Chris Jones, an executive vice
president at logistics software devel-
oper Descartes Systems Group, in
a blog post earlier this year. Jones
predicts that sellers will be required
to provide information to help gov-
ernments assess and collect duties,
and that carriers and logistics ser-
vice providers could be required to
help enforce laws and collect duties
on customs agencies’ behalf.
It’s hard to say which of these
and other proposed responses to
e-commerce problems will actually be implemented. But given the
spectacular growth of cross-border
e-commerce, and with national
security and revenue at stake, international traders should be prepared
for customs authorities around
the world to take aggressive action
sooner rather than later.
