USCIB participated in recent meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Third Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM3) in Lima, Peru. Senior Director for Customs and Trade Facilitation Megan Giblin represented USCIB, serving as moderator or panelist during various customs and trade facilitation meetings and workshops from August 12 to 18. Giblin was a panelist in the Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) APEC Customs-Business Dialogue (ACBD) and moderated a panel during the SCCP Workshop: “Promoting MSME Engagement in E-Commerce on Regulatory Procedures for Small, Low-Value Shipments”. 

The SCCP ACBD session focused on supply chain digitalization. Giblin’s remarks highlighted the various US federal agency engagement models on Customs and Trade Facilitation (TF) matters, including, but not limited to, the Commercial Operational Advisory Committee (COAC), Trade Support Network (TSN), and the International Trade Administration Committees (ITACs), and the critical need for dialogue between customs and stakeholders on digitalization and systems development.

Giblin also gave a presentation during the plenary of the Subcommittee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) to APEC economy customs representatives on trusted partnership between customs and trade stakeholders to achieve better trade facilitation and trade enforcement for a more trusted dialogue and engagement. The presentation also focused on the former SCCP virtual working group, which Giblin co-chaired along with the government of New Zealand, absorbed by the Alliance for Supply Chain Connectivity (A2C2).

The A2C2 meeting included a robust SCCP Chair report on discussions during SCCP and a report on ACBD by the deputy chair. There was also a series of panels on moving the informal economy to the formal economy. The event closed with a dialogue on what industry was interested in seeing for the A2C2. USCIB led several interventions regarding 2017 changes as well as Harmonized System (HS) implementation with a focus on HS 2028 implementation and economy processes and procedures, and supported interventions and suggested possible areas of collaboration regarding, for example, Confidential Business Information (CBI) in the chemical space.

The SCCP Workshop, “Promoting MSME Engagement in E-Commerce on Regulatory Procedures for Small, Low-Value Shipments,” was held on August 18. This event was linked to the US-driven project and draft report on “Low-Value Shipments,” for which USCIB provided inputs via dialogue with a research team. Giblin moderated the revenue and risk management panel, which included speakers from Chile Customs, Chinese Taipei, and DHL. 

APEC is an important forum for customs and trade facilitation. During the meetings, Giblin also participated in other events and side meetings.  SOM 3 2024 illustrated the importance of women in customs and trusted collaboration with the private sector.  

“USCIB commends the close collaboration for SOM3 events of the US Customs and Border Protection, US Department of Commerce, and Office of the US Trade Representative delegates and for the tremendous work done in Lima,” said Giblin. “We also appreciate Peru’s MINCETUR and SUNAT for hosting such valuable customs and TF meetings. While there are more Peru host year events to come, we look forward to Korea’s host year in 2025.”