U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner David V. Aguilar visited Israel last week.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is a federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charged with regulating and facilitating international trade.
Agular met with the Israeli customs brokers association. The Israeli side raised bilateral issues such as origin verification, replacing the old US – Israel certificate of origin by a declaration which will appear on the commercial invoice rather than a certificate of origin. The Israeli side argued that the Israeli trading community would very much appreciate US customs support to advance the request which will save a great deal of money and speed up the bilateral flow of trade.
The issue of mutual recognition of AEO. US and Israel recently signed a joint work plan, establishing a pathway to signing a mutual recognition agreement between CBP’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT, and the Israeli Tax Authority’s Authorized Economic Operator Program. The Israeli side believe that the sooner an agreement is signed, the better it will be for US/ Israel bilateral trade.
During the three days working visit, Aguilar had a working meeting with the Israeli national customs brokers association. The guest met Amir Shani, Vice President Israeli Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Chairman of The Israeli Federation of International Freight Forwarders and Customs Clearing Agents, Hanan Weissman, Chairman Haifa Chamber of Freight Forwarders and Customs Clearing Agents, Ronen Azulay, Senior VP of Orian Ltd. one of Israel’s major logistics services company, Motti Levin, Managing Director at UTi Logistics ISRAEL Ltd.
