Senate Passes Customs Reauthorization Bill

The Senate voted 75-20 on Feb. 11 to approve the conference report of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (HR-644), a major step toward reauthorizing CBP and changing a number of customs processes. The House passed the conference report in December, and Senate approval means the bill will next go to President Barack Obama, who hasn't raised any objections. Several provisions in the bill would take effect 180 days after Obama signs it into law.

Among the big changes are an increase in the de minimis limit to $800, a new "importer of record program" and new importer identification requirements for customs brokers. The bill would also hold CBP to reliquidating entries within 90 days of the actual date of liquidation and eliminate an exemption to the ban on importation of goods made with convict or forced labor. The legislation would also impose firm deadlines on CBP to investigate claims of antidumping and countervailing duty evasion.

While the customs provisions were largely noncontroversial, the bill stalled for two-months marked by negotiations over whether to remove an unrelated extension of a permanent Internet access tax ban embedded in that report. During a Feb. 10 Senate floor speech leading up to the vote, Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., underscored the bill’s “unfair trade alert” provisions, which he said will facilitate quicker alerting of enforcement authorities to suspicious behavior in the trade sphere. “At its core, it’s about rooting out the universe of scofflaw tactics that trade cheats rely on," he said.