[Music]
Narrator: Hello and welcome to inside CBP. I'm Michael Pope.
Not long ago an electronics company became part of a new, innovative structure,
called The Center of Excellence & Expertise
at U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
This company imported microchips.
Many of which you might find in your smartphone,
but their shipments into the United States
were getting stopped at the port of entry,
so they picked up the phone
and called the new CBP Center of Excellence & Expertise.
After contact with the center,
the company quickly discovered that it was a case that could be
easily resolved by a little bit of bi-directional education,
meaning the company described the microchip being imported.
Knowing this information,
the port removed any future holds on that type of microchip.
All of this is due to a relatively straightforward concept of clear,
accurate communication between CBP and the importers.
This is what the centers or CEE's now provide to the importers.
The CEE's are transforming the way CBP
has been processing trade for hundreds of years
and represents the future for what is being called, tailor made trade.
The centers are a common sense trade processing system,
focusing on managing by account vs. transaction.
Organized along industry specific lines,
CBP can understand the intricacies of any one industry.
By assigning specific centers to specific industries,
CBP increases its knowledge of the commodities,
moving compliant goods to market quicker and seizing counterfeit products
that threaten the economy and health and safety of U.S. consumers.
CBP's deputy commissioner, David Aguilar,
recently lauded at the transformational nature of the centers
at the 2012 West Coast Trade Symposium.
>> Centralization, consistency, standardization,
and I believe, a knowledge building capacity is what the CEE's do.
Narrator: The centers are receiving positive feedback
from partners in the trade community
who are enthusiastic about their account based approach.
>> One added benefit that we have is for our trusted partners
and those that are both C-TPAT
and part of our importer self-assessment program,
we are centralizing all of their entry summary
and post entry work at the centers
and that's a huge added benefit for them.
Narrator: In October 2011, CBP launched this new way
of doing business with two centers,
one for the pharmaceutical health and chemical industry
and one for the consumer and electronics industry.
These centers quickly began work to facilitate trade more efficiently.
Their new knowledge also enhanced CBP's enforcement efforts.
All needed enhancements for CBP frontline officers.
>> The intelligence and the information
that the CEE's are providing to our frontline CBP Officers
and import specialists are truly invaluable.
It is enabling our frontline personnel to focus their attention on unknown,
potentially high risk shipments,
while at the same time, making sure that our trusted traders
are able to have their flows of cargo moved more efficiently than ever before.
To be able to harness that information,
harness that intelligence that the CEE's are really able to cultivate now,
unlike ever before, has been a real difference maker for us in the frontline.
Narrator: Now, one of the first centers of excellence and expertise
opened its doors in October of 2011
in a city where most corporate headquarters
for foreign manufacturers of pharmaceuticals are located.
New York City!
This center covers all pharmaceutical, health, and chemical imports
for a select group of what CBP considers trusted partners.
CBP trade specialists in the pharmaceutical, health, and chemical industries
maintain constant relationships
with their corporate contacts in these industries,
smoothing any bumps that occur during the importation process.
>> CBP is continuing to roll out its next generation of automated systems,
the Centers of Excellence & Expertise
also give us the opportunity to centralize our trade processing,
rather than having 300 ports of entry making different decisions
on shipments as they come into the United States,
it also enables us to treat companies as accounts
and manage the process on an account basis rather than
a transactional basis where every shipment has to be treated as unique.
>> This is definitely the future. This is a game changer.
This is the way the agency's going in the future.
It doesn't look like it's turning back any time soon,
and the trade realizes this and CBP employees also realize this.
But most importantly, I think the private sector
is very impressed with what we're doing here at the centers.
Our trusted partners are not in the business of fraud and we understand that.
They are our trusted partners, so we're open and honest with them
and we hope that they're open and honest with us also.
>> The officers in the field have great knowledge
in identifying counterfeit pharmaceuticals
and we use them to enhance our knowledge
and we use what they know to help us out.
Working together we make a great team.
The knowledge they have is invaluable and they work in the field for many years
and they enhanced our knowledge in identifying counterfeit pharmaceuticals
and we look to seize a lot more shipments.
>> For environments where it's difficult to target shipments
like the international mail facilities,
we actually send out physical hand bills and alerts
to make them aware of potential counterfeit products,
such as cancer medicine, automobile parts, electronics,
showing them what to look for so they can better identify and intercept
the packages before they enter the commerce of the United States.
Narrator: Unfortunately, counterfeit and unsafe goods sometimes enter the country.
These products are harmful to the U.S. economy
and our personal health and safety.
Now the new trade intelligence, targeting and other information
that the Centers of Excellence & Expertise now provide
give CBP officers the more accurate information they need
to seize these harmful products from all U.S. ports of entry,
like this international mail facility
at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
>> We go to the experts for their knowledge base and for their expertise.
It helps us to do our jobs in an expeditious manner
and do it quickly and accurately.
You know, resources are limited and the volumes are getting greater,
so we have to work smart.
And this is a great step in that process,
so whether it's pharmaceuticals, petroleum,
anything that the centers are going to specialize in,
is going to be helpful so that we can effectively do our jobs
and facilitate the legitimate imports
while intercepting the illegal importations into the United States.
Narrator: U.S. Customs & Border Protections plan
is to create more Centers of Excellence & Expertise,
covering the full range of imported goods.
As international trade continues to grow more and more complex,
the Centers of Excellence & Expertise
will offer a unique tailor made alternative to business as usual.
For Inside CBP, I'm Michael Pope.
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