Duty drawback is when Customs refunds import duties on goods which are exported under certain, specified conditions. We file drawback here at Sobel Network Shipping – it’s an arcane and document and information-intense process. The evolution over time of the increasing information we submit electronically makes it easier for CBP to match imports and exports and process the claims more smoothly.
“More smoothly” is a misnomer for a filing that over the course of its lifetime would see us deliver import, export and sales documentation in copy paper boxes filled to the top and taped shut. It also meant, unsurprisingly, that refunds would take years if an importer wasn’t approved for accelerated payment and posted a bond for discrepancies.
All this is to say – drawback was and is a cumbersome process that is evocative of every stereotype about big or slow government you’ve ever heard used in your lifetime.
Last week at the NCBFAA’s Annual Conference, CBP announced that they are going to close down the last few remaining national drawback centers. Well, not close down, but co-locate them with the Centers for Excellence and Expertise, or CEE’s.
For background, here’s CBP’s most recent implementation and guidance document on the Centers, their processes and delegation.
CEE’s represented a major change in how Customs would process import entries. Previously, each port of entry had import specialist teams who were subject matter experts in selective parts of the HTS. Any determinations on rulings or classification changes prior to liquidation were made by these team members. The agency also relied on National Import Specialists, mostly in New York but other major gateways, who were the repositories of the most knowledge on a variety of products and subcategories.
As technology and CBP’s processes evolved, the agency decided that in order to provide better service to the trade and to better surveil and monitor primary focus industries, they would create virtual centers which would have a geographic headquarters but would task CBP employees from around the country without having to relocate them. These CEE’s are scattered about the US, but you can see the headquarters for each on the below map:
