NCBFAA Large Broker & Forwarder Committee Minutes
August 8, 2006

Present: Chip Bown, FedEx Trade Networks; Art Litman, FedEx Trade Networks; Dan Meylor, Charmichael International; Norm Schenk, UPS; Karen Damon, DHL; Al Gaidys, Panalpina, Inc.; Steve Bernstein, UTi, United States, Inc.; Jake Holzscheiter, A. N. Deringer, Inc. Absent: Jeff Hammond, Emery Worldwide; Ted Henderson, EGL Global Brokerage; Mary Jo Muoio, Barthco Int'l, Inc.; Amy Magnus, A. N. Deringer, Inc.; Ken Bargteil, Kuehne & Nagel, Inc.; Kevin Hussey, ABX Logistics (USA) Inc.
Agenda

·  Review minutes 6/20/2006

·  Subcommittee Membership Criteria – vote results

·  Other Issues

Review minutes: Chip began the meeting by asking for any corrections or amendments to the June minutes. There being none, the committee moved to the next order of business.
Results of the vote on Membership Criteria: Chip announced that Criteria #4 was chosen. Criteria #4 is:

  1. 200,000 transactions annually OR
  2. 15 or more CBP permitted offices OR
  3. Offices in 5 or more NCBFAA areas

Qualifying member would need to meet any of three of the above criteria.
Chip asked for suggestions on next steps. Steve Bernstein asked if all current members meet the new criteria. It was suggested that all current members be polled to see if they meet the new criteria. Once the eligibility for current members is established, new members may be recruited. There was consensus on this idea. Also discussed was whether the criteria needs to be approved by the Customs Committee and that communication of the criteria to potential new members should include a statement of non-reimbursement of expense. Chip will send an e-mail to all current members regarding the criteria, and communicate with the Customs Committee the same.
The next discussion was regarding Art Litman’s white paper on National Permit. Chip asked Art for an update. Art stated that the NCBFAA has stated its position against the proposals in the white paper, he is not trying to be derisive, however, the white paper outlines his company’s position, and he will be going forward with the proposal to CBP as an individual company. Art welcomes anyone that has interest to work with him. There was discussion on the NCBFAA position, and the LB&F committee continuing to discuss the proposals on National Permit as they are discussed with CBP.
Other issues: Chip stated that the Regulatory Affairs Committee is arranging a meeting with the Food and Drug Agency in conjunction with the Government Affairs Conference meeting. The big issues that Chip has identified are FDA audits and frequency, inconsistency in the construction of FDA product codes, etc.
There was discussion on Remote Location Filing and FDA’s inability to identify the port and office for communication purposes.
Chip stated that these are issues related to centralized processing similar to what Dan is experiencing with RLF. Dan asked if there was any way that CBP could be notified that entries may be coming from an office other than the one at the port where the entry was filed.
Licensing and centralization were discussed as well. Art suggested that the issues that committee members are having with centralization and inequity of treatment between districts should be cataloged and brought forward to Broker Compliance. It was suggested that the Customs Committee may wish to champion this issue with CBP in concert with the RAC championing the issue with FDA.
For the next order of business, Chip asked Norm to provide an update on his discussion with CBP on "parking ticket" penalties and what is an "acceptable level of compliance." Norm stated that he had a conversation with Debbie Spero of CBP last week regarding the need for standards, identifying the key elements of compliance – late entry files, B31 report, etc. Norm suggested that the CBP identify the standards that brokers can use to drive behavior toward better compliance. CBP has agreed that whatever the acceptable level of compliance is, if the company is within this level, they shouldn’t be getting the nit-picking penalties.
CBP asked Norm for more detail, and suggested they may be able to put together a small working group at CBP to work on this issue if he was to clarify it in writing. Dan stated that Vera Adams, in a PCC meeting, said that CBP wants to get away from the smaller penalties. Dan suggested Art get with Vera to discuss her game plan. Dan is under the impression that things are already underway, and feels that these plans can be influenced with the committee’s input. There was discussion on the topic. Norm volunteered to put together a list of possible measurements, and stated that the BEAR Report should be the criteria. Chip asked if everyone is familiar with the BEAR Report and do they receive it. Most members stated that they do get the report at least quarterly. If the trade uses CBP’s own measurements, there should be no argument. Norm will forward his list of proposed measurements to the committee once it is compiled.
The committee agreed that if Debbie Spero is receptive, she should continue to be the contact. Norm asked if he should focus on carrier and other modes, or just broker. Chip’s stated that it would be ideal if we can get CBP to agree on standards for all parties.
Chip then opened the topic of C-TPAT from a large broker perspective as this will become a standard on the world stage – what happens if you loose your C-TPAT status – how does that impact the brokers ability to do business? Art spoke on this topic. He stated that the brokers are more at risk of loosing the status than anyone else. There is no due process for those who loose C-TPAT status. Art stated that standards of due process and reinstatement for our industry should be developed. Brokers would need to have a strong position on this before approaching CBP. There was discussion on the risk, due process, and known standards. Art suggested that Chip raise this issue to the Customs Committee. There was consensus that the LB&F Committee would raise the issue with the Customs Committee. Chip will write to Ken on the topic.
There being no further business or discussion, Chip adjourned the meeting.
The next conference call will be held October 10 at 2:30 Eastern time.