as the full Harmonized Tariff
System (HTS) commodity identification code or the
identity of the buyer—which
may differ from the consignee—in advance of a shipment’s arrival, agencies are
hampered in their efforts to
target suspicious shipments,
she said.
Another concern is that
because formal entries are
not required for most of these
shipments, governments are
not collecting trade data or
duties on them. With millions
of packages shipping daily, the
lack of data and potential lost revenue are significant,
she said.
Magnus cited the increase in the U.S. de minimis
threshold to $800, mandated by Congress in 2016, as a
factor behind the current problems. Some third-party
logistics service providers (3PLs) have set up fulfillment
operations in Mexico and Canada that are “filled with
goods waiting for e-commerce orders,” specifically to
take advantage of that change, she noted. The 3PLs ship
the orders in truckloads across the border into the U.S.,
saving their customers millions of dollars annually, they
claim.
Because every package on the truck meets the de mini-
mis criteria, no formal entry is required. As a result, no
HTS numbers appear on the manifest. CBP does not
receive advance electronic notice of the shipments. The
driver arrives at the border and hands a paper manifest
for potentially 1,000 or more small parcels to the CBP
agent.
This places officers in a difficult position, said a CBP
officer in the audience. “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.”
The officer must figure out what to do with that truck
with almost no information, no advance notice, and a
thick pile of paper to work from, he said.
—Toby Gooley
www.spantechconveyors.com | 270.864.6187
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