Description

The NAFTZ Advocacy Issues Webinar Series was started in response to the recent NAFTZ Advocacy and Public Policy Issues Survey.  A large majority of survey respondents indicated a strong desire to better understand and learn more about each of the association's advocacy and policy issues.  

This session will cover the most recent information and Legislative efforts being made to provide de minimis eligibility to goods shipped from U.S. FTZs.      

Featured Speaker:  Angie Atwood (Columbus Regional Airport) will highlight the latest advocacy efforts and key steps to compliance and best practices. A Q&A session will follow the presentation.

Receive up to 1 CCS credit for attending the LIVE event, subject to NCBFAA Guidelines
The National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones (NAFTZ) is registered with the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, Inc. (NCBFAA) as a sponsor for continuing education. NCBFAA has final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CCS credit. No prerequisites or advance preparations required to attend this webinar and guest must attend the FULL LIVE 60minute event to receive up to 1 CCS Credit subject to NCBFAA guidelines. Requests for credit must be received within 3 weeks of the event. 

Background:

CBP’s interpretation of language in the original FTZ Act of 1934 has led to the prohibition of FTZs from handling de minimis shipments.  The exponential increase in direct-to-consumer e-commerce has led to a corresponding increase in the amount of goods coming into the US under the de minimis threshold.  In fact, E-Commerce accounted for 14.5% of all retail sales in Q2 2022, up from less than 9% in 2017.  In FY22, there were 685.1 million packages that came into the US under de minimis.  

U.S. companies utilizing FTZs are unable to use de minimis entry although considered outside of the customs territory (like foreign competition or operations) because of a technically nuanced interpretation of U.S. Customs law verbiage that has remained unchanged since put into place under the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in 1930.  Foreign facilities do not undergo an authorization process before they can commence operations, nor are the strictly regulated by Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) like U.S. FTZs.  The current prohibition on U.S. FTZs processing de minimis shipments creates an incentive for companies to offshore their warehouse and distribution facilities causing a loss of US jobs.

Issue:

This prohibition on FTZs to utilize the Section 321 de Minimis creates a significant competitive disadvantage for Zones and Zone user/operators compared to offshore distribution and warehousing facilities.

Advocacy Effort:

NAFTZ is a participating member of the “Ship Safe Coalition”, an industry group seeking legislative changes to address this unintended consequence by expanding the Section 321 procedures to include FTZs.