CBP Senior Official performing duties of Commissioner delivers trade advisory committee opening remarks

The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) held the fourth public meeting of its’17th Term Dec. 11 in Washington, DC. Troy A. Miller, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner, delivered opening remarks.

“Thank you, Felicia. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the fourth public meeting of the COAC’s 17th term. Thank you all for joining us virtually.

I am looking forward to a productive discussion. with our COAC members and our government partners. I'd like to welcome some of our key partners:

• From the Treasury Department, Daniel Paisley, Director of Customs and Excise;
• From DHS Tasha Reid Hippolyte, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Trade and Economic Competitiveness;
• From HSI Ivan Arvelo, Director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center; and of course,
• David Corn and
• Julia Pojar, the COAC Trade Chairs.

This is great news. It will make the regulatory process much more efficient and ensure everyone has adequate input. The process to seat the remaining group of COAC members is also moving forward.

I want to thank our current COAC members for your extra work during this period. Thank you. Now, a quick De Minimis update.

In Fiscal Year 2024, CBP processed approximately 1.35 billion De Minimis shipments, an increase of 35% from Fiscal Year 2023. We have been leveraging multiple complimentary efforts to address risk and reduce threats to our national and economic security.

These challenges require a permanent organizational structure. As such, CBP has launched a continuous coordination cell or DC2, which will provide a consistent and predictable approach to addressing De Minimis shipments in all modes and all ports of entry. Headquartered at the New Orleans Field Office, the DC2 will be staffed by OFO subject matter experts. Office of Trade working across CBP will work with our trade stakeholders, including COAC members.

The DC2 will also use intelligence to develop risk-based approaches to address threats, working with industry stakeholders to promote compliance, educate entities and build relationships. We are also making progress on ACE modernization. On January 11, CBP will deploy an automated warning message in ACE when alerting filers when a single consignee is expected to exceed the daily De Minimis threshold.

Initially, we'll use informed compliance and let filers decide how to proceed. This period will let us test our systems together, raise awareness among importers and other supply chain actors, and give industry time to adjust their own systems.

The new COAC De Minimis Automation Task Force is helping us understand the technical flow from the industry perspective. Then, once CBP and our stakeholders are ready we will begin real time flagging of shipments that are eligible for De Minimis once a consignee exceeds the daily threshold.

Our message to the trade: Get ready for this automation. Your preparation will pay off and will help us triage real threats more effectively. We know the system is in dire need of reform. We need to address volume and we need better tools and more information to manage risk in this high threat environment.

We're working hard on the two Notices of Proposed Rulemaking: “The Entry of Low-Value Shipments, or ELVS, proposed role and the proposed rule to exclude goods subject to trade remedies (Section 301, 201, and 232). We plan to publish these for public comment soon. Statutory change remains essential, and we continue to provide technical advice to members of Congress.

And that's just one part of what we need to modernize our systems and laws. Some of the 21st Century Customs Framework, the 21CCF proposals, were included in the administration's fentanyl and De Minimis legislative proposals. The 21 CCF package as a whole is alive and well. The interagency consultative process has advanced substantially.

We look forward to continuing the dialogue on modernization with all of our stakeholders. We need to push forward with ACE 2.0, which would further modernize any new functionality capabilities needed to implement the next generation of business processes and vision by 21 CCF; and closing capability gaps associated with trade facilitation, systems, integration, and data sharing, supply chain transparency, trade enforcement management, and anomalous trade detection.

We're actively working to identify and secure sources of funding so that development of these 2.0 capabilities can begin next fiscal year.

Finally, the quick update on the Broker Continued Education Program.

CBP issued a Federal Register Notice on November 1 to announce the new requirements for continuing education credits. Now is a good time to make sure you're ready ensure that CBP has your preferred email address and that your email security recognizes CBP as a legitimate sender. Check cbp.gov for more information.

I want to thank the COAC members for all their hard work on these complex issues. I want to ask for your continued support. Take steps to ensure that the supply chain is clean, hold each other accountable, ensure filings are being documented and annotated properly. If you’re not doing so already, take part in our tests. Use the forums that we’ve established through the COAC to provide us with your feedback. Let us know what is working and what isn't. And know this, CBP is fully commanded to protecting the American people from dangerous goods.

We will facilitate legitimate trade and hold accountable those who threaten our nation or our economy, and we will maintain a secure and efficient trade environment for everyone. Together, we have accomplished so much and we can continue that work to build a stronger, more secure environment for trade and safeguard the health, safety, and prosperity of the American people.

I would also like to take this time to thank Felicia Pullam for her extraordinary work as OTR’s Executive Director. Felicia, we appreciate your service to CBP, the trade industry, and our nation. And before we conclude, I also want to mention that this will be my final COAC as well.

After 31 years, I will be retiring for from Customs and Border Protection at the end of this month. It’s been the honor of my life serving. I appreciate everything that we've done together to secure our supply chain, enhance our economic prosperity, and keep America safe. Thank you.”