On September 10, 2018, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published in the Federal Register a notice [Docket No. USCBP–2018–0034] announcing The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will hold its quarterly meeting on Wednesday, October 3, 2018 (1 pm to 5pm) in Washington, DC. The meeting will be open to the public. Please note that the meeting may close early if the committee has completed its business. For detail regarding the location, pre-registration and webcast requirements, please see the Federal Register notice.

Agenda

The Designated Federal Officer will announce how the COAC subcommittees will be re-organized to align with CBP’s trade strategic priorities and outline how the current and future COAC activities will be structured within each subcommittee. The COAC will hear from the current subcommittees on the topics listed below and then will review, deliberate, provide observations, and formulate recommendations on how to proceed:

1. The Trusted Trader Subcommittee will present an update on CTPAT Minimum Security Criteria work and its socialization period. The subcommittee will also provide an update on the Forced Labor Strategy for CTPAT Trade Compliance and the CBP lead will report on the progress of the Trusted Trader Pilot.

2. The Trade Enforcement & Revenue Collection (TERC) Subcommittee will provide necessary updates from the Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duty, Bond, Forced Labor and Intellectual Property Rights Working Groups.

3. The COAC Trade Modernization Subcommittee will discuss the ECommerce Working Group’s progress in addressing CBP’s strategic plan regarding e-commerce threats and opportunities to both the government and trade and in light of the World Customs Organization’s global framework. The Regulatory Reform Working Group will provide an overview of work accomplished in reviewing the regulations contained in Title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations to reduce regulatory burdens and costs. The Foreign Trade Zone Working Group will present recommendations regarding the updating of 19 CFR part 146, the Foreign Trade Zone Regulations. They will also discuss a proposed revision to 19 CFR part 146 that began in 2015 and was referred to the working group for further input.

4. The Global Supply Chain Subcommittee will provide a status update on the following work group activities: Piloting the use of the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) to electronically report and manage petroleum moving in-bond via pipeline; the Emerging Technologies Working Group’s work on NAFTA/ CAFTA and the Intellectual Property Rights Blockchain Proof of Concept projects; and the In-bond Working Group’s review of the draft Automated In-Bond Business Process document; as well as potential automation, visibility, system issues and policy/regulatory updates.

Meeting materials will be available by October 1, 2018 on: the CBP website here.