§4317 Centers of Excellence and Expertise

Summary

The Commissioner must, after talking with the appropriate congressional committees and the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, create Centers of Excellence and Expertise across U.S. Customs and Border Protection. These centers will focus on industry sectors to better enforce import rules and help lawful trade move faster. They must use targeting information and other checks to strengthen enforcement, build CBP knowledge about industry operations, supply chains, and compliance, make port procedures more consistent, centralize trade enforcement and facilitation, use an account-based approach for imports when appropriate, grow trusted-partner trade programs, set performance goals, and, when possible, improve information sharing with other federal agencies. By December 31, 2016, the Commissioner must send Congress a report that describes each center’s scope, structure, and functions; how well each center improves enforcement (including priority trade issues) and helps legitimate trade; the benefits to the trade community (including programs like the Importer Self Assessment and other trusted-partner programs); all performance measures and results; effects on trade data accuracy and interagency information flow; and any planned changes to the centers.