II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1581 

To improve the importer of record program and the collection of fees and 

duties in connection with the importation of merchandise into the United 

States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011 

Mrs. MCCASKILL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To improve the importer of record program and the collection 

of fees and duties in connection with the importation 

of merchandise into the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fighting for American 

5 Industry’s Right to Enforcement Against Duty Evasion 

6 Act’’ or the ‘‘FAIR Enforcement Against Duty Evasion 

7 Act of 2011’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. TERMINATION OF AVAILABILITY OF BONDS FOR 

2 NEW SHIPPERS. 

3 Section 751(a)(2)(B) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 

4 U.S.C. 1675(a)(2)(B)) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking clause (iii); and 

6 (2) by redesignating clause (iv) as clause (iii). 

7 SEC. 3. COLLECTION OF IDENTIFICATION RELATING TO IM8 PORTERS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 641 of the Tariff Act of 

10 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1641) is amended by adding at the end 

11 the following: 

12 ‘‘(i) IDENTIFICATION OF CUSTOMERS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the require14 ments of this subsection, the Secretary shall pre15 scribe regulations setting forth the minimum stand16 ards for customs brokers and their customers re17 garding the identity of the customer that shall apply 

18 in connection with the importation of merchandise 

19 into the United States. 

20 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.—The regula21 tions shall, at a minimum, require customs brokers 

22 to implement, and customers (after being given ade23 quate notice) to comply with, reasonable procedures 

24 for— 

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1 ‘‘(A) collecting the identity of any person 

2 seeking to import merchandise into the United 

3 States to the extent reasonable and practicable; 

4 ‘‘(B) collecting the identity of any non5 United States person seeking to import mer6 chandise into the United States to the extent 

7 reasonable and practicable; and 

8 ‘‘(C) maintaining records of the informa9 tion used to substantiate a person’s identity, in10 cluding name, address, and other identifying in11 formation. 

12 ‘‘(3) PENALTIES.—Any customs broker who 

13 fails to collect information required under the regu14 lations prescribed under this subsection shall be lia15 ble to the United States, at the discretion of the 

16 Secretary, for a monetary penalty not to exceed 

17 $10,000 for each violation of those regulations and 

18 to revocation or suspension of license or permit pur19 suant to the procedures set forth in subsection (d). 

20 ‘‘(4) ESTABLISHMENT OF SAFE HARBORS.—Not 

21 later than 60 days after the date of the enactment 

22 of this subsection, the Secretary shall publish a no23 tice in the Federal Register soliciting proposals, 

24 which shall be accepted during a 60-day period, for 

25 the specification of practices for which penalties will 

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1 not be imposed under this subsection. After consid2 ering the proposals so submitted, the Secretary, 

3 shall publish in the Federal Register, including a 60- 

4 day period for comment, proposed specified practices 

5 for which such penalties will not be imposed. After 

6 considering any public comments received during 

7 such period, the Secretary shall issue final regula8 tions specifying such practices. 

9 ‘‘(5) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Final regulations pre10 scribed under this subsection shall take effect before 

11 the end of the 1-year period beginning on the date 

12 of the enactment of this subsection.’’. 

13 (b) STUDY AND REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 

14 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

15 Secretary, in consultation with relevant Federal regulators 

16 shall submit a report to the Congress containing rec17 ommendations for— 

18 (1) determining the most timely and effective 

19 way to require foreign nationals to provide customs 

20 brokers and agencies with appropriate and accurate 

21 information, comparable to that which is required of 

22 United States nationals, concerning the identity, ad23 dress, and other related information about such for24 eign nationals necessary to enable customs brokers 

25 and agencies to comply with the requirements of secmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 tion 641(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (as added by 

2 subsection (a)); and 

3 (2) establishing a system for customs brokers 

4 and agencies to review information maintained by 

5 relevant Government agencies for purposes of 

6 verifying the identities of foreign nationals and 

7 United States nationals seeking to import merchan8 dise into the United States. 

9 SEC. 4. IMPORTER OF RECORD DATABASE. 

10 (a) IMPROVEMENT OF IMPORTER OF RECORD DATA11 BASE.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the en12 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security 

13 shall implement the following improvements to the im14 porter of record database: 

15 (1) Include a history of importer of record 

16 numbers associated with each importer of record. 

17 (2) Provide a system to evaluate the accuracy 

18 of the database maintained with respect to each im19 porter of record. 

20 (3) Establish a system that ensures that dupli21 cate importer of record numbers are not issued. 

22 (4) Establish a system for updating the data23 base described in this subsection on a regular basis, 

24 but not less frequently than once a year. 

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1 (5) Establish a system that enables customs 

2 brokers to verify the information required under sec3 tion 641(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (as added by 

4 section 3(a) of this Act). 

5 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

6 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland 

7 Security shall submit to the Committee on Finance of the 

8 Senate and the Committee on Ways and Means of the 

9 House of Representatives a report on the improvements 

10 made to the importer of record program pursuant to this 

11 section. 

Æ 

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