S.L.C.
necessary increased, levels of enhanced preclearance customs
services as the Customs Service provided during fiscal year
1997, in connection with the arrival in the United States
of passengers aboard commercial aircraft whose flights
originated in Canada.
TITLE II—CUSTOMS
PERFORMANCE REPORT
SEC. 201. CUSTOMS PERFORMANCE REPORT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of Customs
shall prepare and submit to the appropriate committees the
report described in subsection (b).
(b) REPORT DESCRIBED.—The report described in this
subsection shall include the following:
(1) IDENTIFICATION OF OBJECTIVES; ESTABLISH-
MENT OF PRIORITIES.—
(A) An outline of the means the Customs
Service intends to use to identify enforcement
priorities and trade facilitation objectives.
(B) The reasons for selecting the objectives
contained in the most recent plan submitted by
the Customs Service pursuant to section 1115 of
title 31, United States Code.
(C) The performance standards against
which the appropriate committees can assess the
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efforts of the Customs Service in reaching the
goals outlined in the plan described in subpara-
graph (B).
(2) IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CUSTOMS MOD-
ERNIZATION ACT.—
(A) A review of the Customs Service’s im-
plementation of title VI of the North American
Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, com-
monly known as the ‘‘Customs Modernization
Act’’, and the reasons why elements of that Act,
if any, have not been implemented.
(B) A review of the effectiveness of the in-
formed compliance strategy in obtaining higher
levels of compliance, particularly compliance by
those industries that have been the focus of the
most intense efforts by the Customs Service to en-
sure compliance with the Customs Modernization
Act.
(C) A summary of the results of the reviews
of the initial industry-wide compliance assess-
ments conducted by the Customs Service as part
of the agency’s informed compliance initiative.
(3) 
IMPROVEMENT
OF
COMMERCIAL
OPER-
ATIONS.—
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(A) Identification of standards to be used in
assessing the performance and efficiency of the
commercial operations of the Customs Service,
including entry and inspection procedures, clas-
sification, valuation, country-of-origin deter-
minations, and duty drawback determinations.
(B) Proposals for—
(i) improving the performance of the
commercial operations of the Customs Serv-
ice, particularly the functions described in
subparagraph (A), and
(ii) eliminating lengthy delays in ob-
taining rulings and other forms of guidance
on United States customs law, regulations,
procedures, or policies.
(C) Alternative strategies for ensuring that
United States importers, exporters, customs bro-
kers, and other members of the trade community
have the information necessary to comply with
the customs laws of the United States and to
conduct their business operations accordingly.
(4) REVIEW
OF
ENFORCEMENT
RESPONSIBIL-
ITIES.—
(A) A review of the enforcement responsibil-
ities of the Customs Service.
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(B) An assessment of the degree to which the
current functions of the Customs Service overlap
with the functions of other agencies and an iden-
tification of ways in which the Customs Service
can avoid duplication of effort.
(C) A description of the methods used to en-
sure against misuse of personal search authority
with respect to persons entering the United
States at authorized ports of entry.
(5) STRATEGY
FOR
COMPREHENSIVE
DRUG
INTERDICTION.—
(A) A comprehensive strategy for the Cus-
toms Service’s role in United States drug inter-
diction efforts.
(B) Identification of the respective roles of
cooperating agencies, such as the Drug Enforce-
ment Administration, the Federal Bureau of In-
vestigation, the Coast Guard, and the intelligence
community, including—
(i) identification of the functions that
can best be performed by the Customs Serv-
ice and the functions that can best be per-
formed by agencies other than the Customs
Service; and
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(ii) a description of how the Customs
Service plans to allocate the additional drug
interdiction resources authorized by the
Drug Free Borders Act of 1998.
(6) ENHANCEMENT OF COOPERATION WITH THE
TRADE COMMUNITY.—
(A) Identification of ways to expand co-
operation with United States importers and cus-
toms brokers, United States and foreign carriers,
and other members of the international trade
and transportation communities to improve the
detection of contraband before it leaves a foreign
port destined for the United States.
(B) Identification of ways to enhance the
flow of information between the Customs Service
and industry in order to—
(i) achieve greater awareness of poten-
tial compliance threats;
(ii) improve the design and efficiency
of the commercial operations of the Customs
Service;
(iii) foster account-based management;
(iv) eliminate unnecessary and burden-
some regulations; and
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(v) establish standards for industry
compliance with customs laws.
(7) ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES.—
(A) An outline of the basis for the current
allocation of inspection and investigative person-
nel by the Customs Service.
(B) Identification of the steps to be taken to
ensure that the Customs Service can detect any
misallocation of the resources described in sub-
paragraph (A) among various ports and a de-
scription of what means the Customs Service has
for reallocating resources within the agency to
meet particular enforcement demands or com-
mercial operations needs.
(8) AUTOMATION
AND
INFORMATION
TECH-
NOLOGY.—
(A) Identification of the automation needs
of the Customs Service and an explanation of the
current state of the Automated Commercial Sys-
tem and the status of implementing a replace-
ment for that system.
(B) A comprehensive strategy for reaching
the technology goals of the Customs Service, in-
cluding—
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(i) an explanation of the proposed ar-
chitecture of any replacement for the Auto-
mated Commercial System and how the ar-
chitecture of the proposed replacement sys-
tem best serves the core functions of the Cus-
toms Service;
(ii) identification of public and private
sector automation projects that are com-
parable and that can be used as a bench-
mark against which to judge the progress of
the Customs Service in meeting its tech-
nology goals;
(iii) an estimate of the total cost for
each automation project currently under-
way at the Customs Service and a timetable
for the implementation of each project; and
(iv) a summary of the options for fi-
nancing each automation project.
(9) PERSONNEL POLICIES.—
(A) An overview of current personnel prac-
tices, including a description of—
(i) performance standards;
(ii) the criteria for promotion and ter-
mination;
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(iii) the process for investigating com-
plaints of bias and sexual harassment;
(iv) the criteria used for conducting in-
ternal investigations;
(v) the protection, if any, that is pro-
vided for whistleblowers; and
(vi) the methods used to discover and
eliminate corruption within the Customs
Service.
(B) Identification of workforce needs for the
future and training needed to ensure Customs
Service personnel stay abreast of developments in
international business operations and inter-
national trade that affect the operations of the
Customs Service, including identification of any
situations in which current personnel policies or
practices may impede achievement of the goals of
the Customs Service with respect to both enforce-
ment and commercial operations.
(c) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES.—For purposes of this
section, the term ‘‘appropriate committees’’ means the Com-
mittee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on
Ways and Means of the House of Representatives.
S.L.C.
Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘An Act to authorize
appropriations for the United States Customs Service for
fiscal years 2000 and 2001.’’.