A united state advisory committee called Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will start a live test of its blockchain-based intellectual property rights proof of concept (POC). The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will run the live test from August to September. The announcement was made by COAC’s Subcommittee on Next Generation Facilitation, an entity which includes four working group. A meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) will also be held in Buffalo, New York, on August 21 in this regard.
According to a document posted by the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC), the four working groups of the subcommittee are:
- E-Commerce, co-chaired by Lenny Feldman, Cindy Allen, and Luisella Basso
- Emerging Technologies, co-chaired by Celeste Catano and Barry Baxter
- 1USG co-chaired by Luisella Basso, Warren Hastings, and Madeleine Veigel
- 21st Century Customs Framework: Unified Entry Processes Working Group (UEP), co-chaired by JD Gonzalez and Kathy Wilkins
Out of these four groups, the Emerging Technologies group is working for CBP adoption of blockchain technology. The document says:
COAC recommends that in order to encourage the adoption of blockchain, CBP should strive for global data standards and protocols consistent with WCO principles that promote trade facilitation, transparency and compliance in the context of cargo entry, clearance/release, and post-entry review/audit processes.
COAC recommends that CBP should design its proof of concept (POC) in a way that encourages the greatest possible number of adopters and technology, cost, and investment should not be a barrier to entry. CBP should provide a web page about blockchain with Frequently Asked Questions and an explanation of the basic concepts and application of blockchain, relevancy to customs transactions, and the potential return on investment.
The working group has been active with the current POC on IPR. Since the last in-person meeting in March, the working group has progressed through the overall project design, implementation of the initial engineering plan, and integration of Trade and CBP systems. Live testing of the system will start at the end of August and conclude late September.
The document says.
Another document was also published by the Trusted Trader Working Group of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) in preparation for a meeting which will be held on 21 August. This document gives additional recommendations to CBP related to forced labor for the future implementation of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) Trade Compliance program.
