As I write to you this month, we’re deep into the final preparations for our Annual Conference in New Orleans, in the third week of Advocacy Virtual Fly-in meetings, and in the final stretch of bringing in new members as we approach an all-time high watermark for membership.  It’s a bit hectic!

Amid all this, we’re also working on improving the information and data we have regarding members’ FTZ-specific information.  Our previous association management system didn’t have the capability to allow us to gather information about our members’ FTZ locations, types, and the kinds of goods or production in their zones.  Why do we need this level of detail?  First and foremost, for advocacy.  We need to be able to quickly and easily identify not only the location of a member’s office, but also where their zones are.  For example, if a member has an office in Georgia but their FTZs are in California, Texas, South Carolina, and Maryland, we need to be able to contact our Georgia based members about advocacy meetings with congressional members from the states where their FTZ jobs are located.  Similarly, if CBP identifies goods or materials subject to special handling or review (like Forced Labor), we want to be able to quickly identify which members could be impacted. 

OK, so why am I writing about this now?  Because we’re going to be asking you for additional information necessary for NAFTZ to focus on specific issues and instances – which is very difficult or impossible now.  We’d also like to gather more information about FTZ metrics for benchmarking purposes – allowing NAFTZ to have data available that the FTZ Board does not track or report. 

We want you to know in advance that NAFTZ will only use the additional information we request for these and similar purposes.  NAFTZ never sells member or event attendee contact information.  We are extremely careful and diligent about member data, information, and identity.

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be asking you to provide this additional information.  You will be able to log in to NAFTZ.org and see exactly what we have on file, and you can help keep your information current and accurate. 

Watch for detailed information about this effort early this fall.  In the meantime, please provide me with any feedback you may have about this initiative in advance so that the association can take your concerns into consideration as we work to deploy this new, critical effort.  Email your thoughts, concerns or questions to me at jtafel@naftz.org. 

Hope to see you in New Orleans!