WASHINGTON – The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America, Inc. (NCBFAA) recently submitted comments to the Department of Treasury and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) claiming that the regulations proposed in connection with the increase of the de minimis entry exemption must  establish clear eligibility requirements and clarify the process by which goods eligible for the duty exemption under Section 1321 may be presented for entry into the United States. The NCBFAA believes that qualifying merchandise should be afforded the duty and tax exemptions provided for in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA) but entered via ACE and ITDS entry procedures thereby assuring the proper data collection and adherence to CBP and Partner Government Agency import requirements.  NCBFAA submits that exemption from duty does not distinguish these shipments from other imported merchandise but this issue should be specifically addressed.19 USC 1321 allows the Secretary of Treasury to disregard discrepancies in collection of taxes and duties to avoid expense and inconveniences to the Government disproportionate to the amount of revenue that would otherwise be collected. The notice of proposed rulemaking indicates that duties and harbor maintenance fees will not be assessed on shipments entered under the informal entry procedures. NCBFAA further suggests that language be included to waive the merchandise processing fees required under 19 CFR 24.23(b)(2)(i) on any informal entries electronically filed for release under the Section 1321 exemption since those fees would never exceed $2.00. The effort and inconvenience required to collect and track the payment of these minimal fees exceeds the revenue being collected. NCBFAA also suggest that this same consideration be given to other small fees which might otherwise be assessed on these low value shipments and result in the collection of minimal revenues. (One such example is the cotton fee.) TFTEA addressed concerns that both CBP and the trade had expressed about the identification of importers. For many years CBP has endeavored to understand who the actual parties are in the importing process in order to properly target what was being imported into the United States. For supply chain security, which includes physical safety issues, the protection of intellectual property rights, and the control of goods subject to trade protection measures such as anti-dumping or countervailing duty orders, CBP must establish an entry solution within ACE to allow for enforcement of the trade laws and risk based targeting of inbound shipments. Duty free does not mean data free. Allowing large quantities of goods to enter the country from what is sure to be an explosion of unknown entities is contrary to the promises of ACE and ITDS. The NCBFAA urges CBP to promulgate regulations to mandate that all goods entered into the United States are considered "customs business", thus requiring either the direct involvement of the actual importer or a licensed customs broker who is bound under TFTEA to validate an importer's identity. The proposed regulations do not indicate whether goods entered under the Section 1321 exemption are also exempt from the regulatory requirements imposed on imported merchandise by other government agencies and this issue must be clarified for all concerned parties.