ENFORCEMENT

Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator
under current law and would not compromise
sensitive law enforcement operations.
ACTION NO. 3.7: Review the suitability of
current CBP user fee allocations. CBP and the
Department of the Treasury, in consultation with
OMB, will evaluate whether the allocation of
user fees under 19 U.S.C. § 58c appropriately
reflects CBP’s current program requirements
and costs, particularly with respect to small
shipments. If the agencies determine that
allocations under current law are insufficient or
outdated, they will further evaluate options for
adjusting the amounts, hierarchy, and allocation
of funds to meet full cost recovery and maximize
CBP program effectiveness. In addition, the
agencies will examine the need for and viability of
supplementary fees to complement the express
consignment carrier and centralized hub facilities
user fee commitments.
4. Implement Advance Targeting Capabilities in
the International Mail Environment to Address
Rising Threats in the Global Marketplace.
CBP receives advance data for packages sent via
express consignment, but not for international mail
parcels destined for the United States. This lack of
advance targeting information, combined with the
rapid flow of parcels, limits CBP’s ability to properly
identify international mail shipments that may contain
counterfeit or pirated goods. Without the ability to
conduct a full-risk analysis on shipments arriving through
international mail in advance of their arrival, any U.S.
border enforcement strategy is incomplete and subject
to an unacceptable degree of risk.
While CBP has been working with the United States
Postal Service (USPS) and the Universal Postal Union
to address this risk through an advance data screening
pilot program for some time, progress has been slow.
Without a permanent advance targeting data program,
law enforcement will continue to have significant
difficulty excluding prohibited IPR items shipped
through international mail.
If nations are serious in their resolve to address the
growing risk of illicit trade in counterfeit goods—goods
that place the health and safety of consumers at risk;
jeopardize national security interests; undermine the rule
of law; accrue to the benefit of criminal syndicates; and
implicate serious ethical and social concerns—the time
for action is now.
A combination of advanced data collection at
the time of parcel drop-off or payment, coupled with
photo-scanning technology of sender and recipient
(consignee) information and adoption of barcoded
labels (combining all mailing information, from package
weight and size, to point of drop-off/pick-up, to delivery
destination), must be considered. These and other
data collection and parcel tracking methods have long
existed, and have been successfully implemented in the
express freight sector, leaving little explanation as to
why modern systems have yet to be similarly adopted
in the international postal environment. While available
resources are understandably limited, a strategy must be
put into place to move forward.
ACTION NO. 3.8: Evaluate the effectiveness
of the CBP-USPS advance data pilot program.
Within one year of the issuance of this Plan,
CBP will, in coordination with USPS, evaluate
the effectiveness of the advance data pilot for
international mail. This program evaluation
should discuss the systemic vulnerabilities that
make advance international mail data critical to
effective border enforcement; analyze the quality
and timeliness of the data received, including to
what extent actionable intelligence was received
and used for targeting shipments; examine
whether the advance data pilot effectively
improved CBP’s small-parcel interdiction efforts;
and make recommendations for extending or
expanding the pilot, including any recommended
system modifications at CBP or USPS.
ACTION NO. 3.9: Study exploitation of the
international mail environment by perpetrators
of illicit trade. DHS, in consultation with USPS,
IPEC, and relevant stakeholders, will study to
what extent the international mail environment is
being misused to conduct illicit trade. Specifically,
DHS should seek to identify how and why foreign
IP violators are using small mail parcels to ship
their counterfeit goods directly to the U.S.
consumers. If DHS finds that international mail is
being exploited as a significant channel for the
conduct of illicit trade, the agency will convene
an interagency working group to meet quarterly
to discuss developments in the international mail
environment and opportunities to reduce the
incidence of illicit trade conducted therein.
SECTION 3
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