Announcement of Program for the Private Sector To Participate in Trade-Related Training of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Personnel

On February 16, 2018, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published in the Federal Register (83 FR 7064) the process to solicit, evaluate, and select interested parties in the private sector to fulfill agency needs for instruction and related instructional materials for trade-related training, pursuant to section 104 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA).

Background

On February 24, 2016, former President Barack Obama signed into law the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act (TFTEA), (Pub. L. 114-125, 130 Stat. 122, Feb. 24, 2016) (19 U.S.C. 4301 note). Section 104 of the TFTEA directs the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to establish and carry out, on a fiscal year basis, trade-related educational seminars to: (1) Improve the ability of personnel of CBP to classify and appraise imported merchandise; (2) improve the trade enforcement efforts of CBP and ICE personnel; and (3) otherwise improve the ability and effectiveness of CBP and ICE personnel to facilitate legitimate international trade. Interested parties in the private sector that meet the guidelines and criteria set forth in this notice and are selected by CBP or ICE may provide instruction and related instructional materials at these seminars pursuant to section 104.

Topics upon which training may be conducted include tariff classification, customs valuation, country of origin (including procedures for identifying merchandise bearing mislabeled country of origin markings), proper assessment of AD/CVD, evasion of duties on imports of textiles, border enforcement of IPR, enforcement of child labor laws, and other topics as appropriate and useful as concerns the trade-related duties and missions of CBP and ICE.

Trade-Related Training by Private Sector Parties

Interested parties desiring to conduct training under this program will be selected based on: (1) The availability of CBP and ICE personnel for such training; (2) the relevance of the training to the topics specified in section 104; (3) the usefulness of the proposed training as concerns the trade-related duties and missions of CBP and ICE; (4) any existing or future need to train CBP and ICE personnel on identifying and detecting incorrect or false country of origin with respect to imported merchandise; and (5) the expertise and experience of the proposed private sector instructors in the subject matter of the proposed training.