Robert E. Perez, director, field operations, New York Field Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, recently gave an update on key Customs initiatives at a recent retail seminar held in New York City. This retail-focused event, Financial Returns in Global Trade, was hosted by Amber Road and Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services, Inc., and discussed the financial benefits that can result from the automation of key compliance processes.

According to Perez, Customs is embracing the idea of combing missions: improving security while lowering costs for the trade community and increasing the ease of interacting with Customs. Key Customs initiatives were borne of this idea, and will equate to a stronger economy.

“We are challenging ourselves to transform,” stated Perez, who enumerated several different underlying principles related to key Customs initiatives: consistency and harmonization, to drive down transaction costs for the community; modernization, by streamlining automation initiatives and developing a more agile development process; and co-creation, with a focus on the broker’s role.

Other principles underlying Customs’ key initiatives are bi-directional education, to make working with Customs more consistent and predictable; comprehensive trusted trader programs, with the harmonization of C-TPAT and ISA; trade intelligence, focusing on educating trusted partners, particularly with trade enforcement and protection; and trade enforcement and revenue collection, by working with other agencies, particularly with managing risk at the border.

Want to learn more about leveraging returns from the automation of trade compliance? Download Amber Road’s white paper, The ROI of Automating Trade Compliance.