US Customs Opens Online Electronic Reporting System To Increase Trade Enforcement

According to lawyers of Li Xinyu Murphy and Brian Murphy, who specialize in Customs Law of the United States, the US Customs has recently launched an electronic reporting system called code eAllegations to enable the public to report violations of US trade laws and regulations to the US Customs through the Internet.

In addition to the traditional telephone and written reporting channels, informants can report other illegal activities through the eAllegations website of the official customs website of the United States since June 17, 2008.

The system mainly accepts information related to international trade, such as improper customs classification, origin identification, public health and product safety, intellectual property protection and textile trade. Generally, it does not involve problems in counter-terrorism or national security.

The US Customs has cited 3 examples to illustrate what constitutes a violation of US trade laws and regulations: importing inferior steel products but false reporting as high-grade steel, causing harm to public safety, reporting low value of imported products, evading Customs duties, and forgery of garments producing areas to evade textile quotas.

The US Customs said that whistleblowers could choose to report anonymously without having to disclose their identities, and could also send more evidence and information to the customs according to the reporting file number provided by the system.

However, due to the relevant laws of the United States, the US Customs will not disclose any findings to the whistleblower and the enforcement measures taken by the customs.

Bruce Schumann (Bruce Shulman), the Washington office of the US international law firm, has different views on the new reporting system.

First of all, because of the shortcomings of network technology, there is a serious leakage of information through the Internet itself.

The U. S. customs can not ensure the safety of the whistleblower.

Second, American Law stipulates that in some cases, a whistleblower can receive a government bonus.

The US Customs did not mention the reporting bonus.

Anonymous whistleblowers will not be able to obtain bonuses from the government in the future.

Schuhmann lawyers advise that those who wish to never disclose their identity and receive customs bonuses still negotiate with the US Customs through lawyers.

Li Xinyu's lawyer pointed out that the new measures of the US customs were worthy of the attention of domestic export enterprises, because in addition to serious criminal acts, the reporting system received more reports on general illegal and customs fraud, such as evading Customs duties, reporting false and illegal pshipment.

Although some domestic export enterprises are accustomed to this and do not care about it, the situation may change in the future.

More importantly, the electronic reporting system eliminates the mailing fees, telephone charges and travel barriers faced by informants, which greatly facilitates potential informants, especially those outside the United States.

The next informant may be a dissatisfied salesperson who has just been dismissed by a domestic foreign trade company or an employee of a logistics company who carries goods.

Whether the report is true or not, if the United States Customs takes measures according to the content of the report, it will cause serious financial burden to the shipper only if the goods are checked out.

Therefore, the establishment of strict rules and regulations, law-abiding operation is very important for foreign trade operators.