Fentanyl Smuggle Prevention Legislation Calls for GAO Study on Possible Role for Custom Brokers
If the Securing the International Mail Against Opioids Act of 2018 becomes law, the Government Accountability Office will evaluate how effective the use of advance electronic data has been in stopping the flow of fentanyl and other opioid packages, and it will assess "whether the detection of illicit synthetic opioids in the international mail would be improved by requiring the Postal Service to serve as the consignee for international mail shipments containing goods; or designating a customs broker to act as an importer of record for international mail shipments containing goods."
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
The bill, H.R. 5788, passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee last month (see 1805160001). It would charge $1 on inbound express mail shipments from outside the country, and half of that fee would go to CBP, with the other half to be retained by the U.S. Postal Service. The GAO would also determine the feasibility of assessing a customs fee on international mail shipments other than inbound express mail. The GAO report would be due by the end of 2020.
On June 11, The Americans for Securing All Packages lauded a revised version of the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention (STOP) Act, which is now merged into H.R. 5788.