Compliance with informal entry rules requires the completion of a CBP form that has 32 pages of instructions
and that demands numerous details about the merchandise. Raising the de minimis threshold would enable carriers to sidestep such detailed requirements, the report said.
The report, titled Logistics Reform for Low-Value
Shipments, said CBO failed to estimate the benefits accrued
by expediting customs procedures, reducing paperwork,
and improving the agency’s overall productivity.
Based on the 2011 report, the number of entries for shipments between $200 and $800 that are processed by the private express firms is roughly 3. 8 million per year, with a
declared value of about $1.7 billion per year. USPS alone
handles about the same number of entries with a roughly
equivalent declared value, the report said.
LOWERED BARRIERS TO TRADE
A change in the levels would also “open the gates to a substantial increase” in the volume of commerce, especially e-commerce, the report’s authors, Gary C. Hufbauer and Yee
Wong, said. International e-commerce, which is a growing
but still-small part of the overall e-commerce pie, could
go figure …
97%
The amount of intermodal traffic the U.S. rail industry
has recovered from the 2006 peak, largely driven by
the growth of domestic shipments.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN RAILROADS
expand even faster if “border frictions were reduced,” they
wrote.
Today, many companies looking to expand into overseas
markets are deterred by compliance costs that can exceed
the value of the shipment itself. The burden is especially
hard on a typical small to mid-sized business where about
half of its international business expenses are tied up in
transaction costs, according to Laney.
Other groups supporting the proposed change include the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Association of
Exporters and Importers, National Association of
Manufacturers, and U.S. Council of International Business. ;
—M.S.
