Customs Service Modernization: Impact of New Trade Compliance Strategy Needs to Be Assessed

摘要

To speed the processing of imports and improve compliance with trade laws, Congress enacted Title VI of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act on December 8, 1993. The Customs Service refers to this legislation as the Customs Modernization and Informed Compliance Act or Mod Act. The Mod Act fundamentally altered the relationship between importers and Customs by shifting from Customs to the importer the legal responsibility for declaring the value, classification, and rate of duty applicable to merchandise being imported into the United States. Customs is responsible for determining the final classification and value of the merchandise. The Mod Act also gave Customs and importers a shared responsibility for ensuring compliance with trade laws. To implement these new responsibilities, Customs developed an informed compliance strategy. You asked us to (1) assess the status of Customs' implementation of the informed compliance strategy and (2) determine whether trade compliance under the new program had improved.