Trade and Border Control Procedure

Question: Discuss about theTrade and Border Control Procedure. Answer: Introduction Australia is a seafood lovers place. Since two decades, the amount of seafood production has been almost 230,000 tonnes every year. According to Watson et al (2015), they export high value seafood products such as premium tuna species, rock lobsters and abalone and import low value products such as canned tuna mostly from Asian countries such as China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries including New Zealand. Watson et al (2015) added that it is estimated that almost 66% of its total seafood consumption is from importation. Guy et al (2014) stated that the widely eaten imported seafood product in Australia is the white boneless flesh of basa or catfish. It is a low cost yet delicious seafood product that has become the nations favorite. On the other hand, United States is another such country that imports groudfish, squid, crab, tuna, salmon, and shrimp mainly from China, Canada, Thailand, Vietnam, Ecuador and Vietnam. Ninety percent of the countrys total seafood consump tion is due to importation from these places. However, at first, the American anglers caught the seafood, then they are exported to other countries for processing and after that, they are imported for the second time to the United States. For a safe and legal importation of seafood, both Australia and United States have set the guidelines. This essay will carry out an in-depth study on the trade and border control polices of both these countries while importing seafood. Comparative Study of Australia and US Trade and Border Control Polices Trade and border control policies are implemented to prevent illegal trade of products. In an age of global trading, it has become mandatory for each country to follow the strict guidelines designed by the state authorities. In case of seafood products, it is even more necessary not because illegal trading damages the nations reputation and fuels more illegal trading, but also because seafood products should be scanned before they reach the kitchens otherwise health issues may occur that may turn to an epidemic. Keeping everything in mind, both Australia and United States have tightened their trade and border control policies. As discussed by Guy et al (2014), Australias Federal Government agency verifies issues related to food security. The guidelines known as Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) finds out all food safety related risks in Australia and New Zealand. Guy et al (2014) added that they monitor the issues and recommend the essential actions that should be taken while producing, selling and manufacturing the food products. In case of imports, Australia has to consider the biosecurity issues. According to Bellmann et al (2016), importation of unsafe and illegal seafood products can harm the biosecurity of the country and for that reason, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) enforces Quarantine laws. Bellmann et al (2016) added that they are a part of Australias Department of Agriculture. AQIS does all the inspection and certification to find out the health status of the animals, plants and the food products. They jointly work with FSANZ to ensure that commercially imported seafood products in Australia are in accordance with Australias Quarantine standards and the Food Standards Code. In 1908, the Quarantine Act was propounded that sets the rules related to the imports (Border.gov.au, 2016). According to Cooper (2014), however, the 30-member company, which is named The Seafood Importers Association of Australia (SIAA) checks the security issues too concerning the imported seafood products. Cooper (2014) opined that SIAA is a member of AQIS Imported Food Consultative Council. They work as an extension of National Aquaculture Council, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Seafood cooperative Research Center, and State Seafood Industry Councils. As discussed by Guy et al (2014), they have their name enlisted in NSW (New South Wales) Incorporation Act. SIAAs primary responsibilities are to ensure fair trade and give strategic inputs to the seafood industry for a better decision-making system. They develop associations with many authorities for t he advancement in the seafood importation. Matsushita et al (2015) discussed that apart from assessing the food safety standards, they also monitor the official procedures including documentation while importing seafood products. According to Matsushita et al (2015), the employees of SIAA conduct small tours to investigate about the new fishing and farming developments in other parts of the world and often in remote areas. In United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regulate the importation of seafood (Fda.gov, 2016). Strict restrictions are there regarding the quantity of caviar that can be imported. The travelers can bring not more than 125 grams of caviar and if they violate this norm, the goods are seized (Americanseafoodimports.com, 2016). In case of Shrimp importation, the Department of state, Office of Marine Conservation has certified some of the countries as eligible to export shrimp to United States. They send the list to the Customs and Border protection (CBP) (Americanseafoodimports.com, 2016). This certification is based on the nature of shrimp harvesting in those countries. The Customs and Border Protection maintains a field-office structure that includes 20 Field Operations offices working around the United States (Americanseafoodimports.com, 2016). Their job is to manage and supervise 320 ports of entry surrounding the country and 14 preclearance offices situated in Canada and Caribbean (Cbp.gov, 2016). CBP implements import laws and regulations keeping the Ports of entry in mind. At first, the importers have to submit a form named DS-2031 which was formerly known as DSP-121 to CBP (Cbp.gov, 2016). The countries without the certification should fill the form DS-2031 and submit it with every entry. Thus, government certification is essential for the CBP release. The FDA ensures that they have the prior notice regarding the importation of all commercial foods including the seafood products (Fda.gov, 2016). All the foreign manufacturers and distributors willing to resale their food products should register themselves with FDA for the permission of reselling (Fda.gov, 2016). As discussed by Gephart and Pace (2015), CBP also ensures the security and safety of the United States. They also take the responsibilities such as collecting the taxes and fees for the protection o f the nations revenue. They detect, interdict, and investigate and prevent before any illegal trade takes place. Green (2013) pointed out that the owner, purchaser, and his authorized regular employee of the merchandise should carry the goods imported to the United States. Green (2013) added that the licensed custom broker can do this job on behalf of them. The United States tariff laws authorize the Customs Brokers and it enables them to play the role of agents for the importers. The firm or person intending to import names the custom broker as the CBP power of attorney at the time of CBs entry. The large quantity of seafood consumed by United States not only comes from importation but also it harvests them in large quantity. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is responsible for designing the conservation and management of fisheries across the globe. It ensures safe and legal seafood consumption. The fisheries of NOAA implements the Catch Documentation Scheme according to which any person who imports Antarctic marine living resources to the United States should be permitted by the dealers (Noaa.gov, 2016). In case of toothfish importation, this is applicable to all kinds of toothfish produced inside or outside the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) (Noaa.gov, 2016). As discussed by Gephart and Pace (2015), dealers have to apply for ore-approval before each toothfish import. They should also carry the dealers permit copy while importing the toothfish to the United States. According to a revised regulation in 2 003, Gephart and Pace (2015) pointed out that the dealers importing toohfish in shipments weighed less than 2000kgs need not require any preapproval. They can carry on filing import tickets within 24 hours for each shipment with a DCD copy. Gephart and Pace (2015) added that the preapproval is necessary in case the dealers carry frozen toothfish or shipments with more than 2000kgs of fresh toothfish. Another aspect, as mentioned by Gephart and Pace (2015), is that the CCAMLR members failed to implement a centralized vessel monitoring system and cannot adjust with the prevalent VMS requirements. As a result of this, NOAA fisheries have banned the importation of seafood products harvested in FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) Areas 51 and 57, i.e. from Indian Ocean Western to Indian Ocean Eastern. (Noaa.gov, 2016). Australias trade policies promote liberalization of trade across the globe (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2016). Seafood consumption and importation has grown up since the nation have emphasized upon establishing a safe and liberal trade. It enhances the economic growth and sustained prosperity. Since 1970s, Australia is seen reducing its amount of tariff and some trade distortion protections on the agricultural and food products (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2016). The Export Council of Australia (ECA) advocates the trade policies on behalf of both the exporters and importers of Australia (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 2016).They include a Trade Policy Committee, and a Trade Policy Advisory Committee with whom ECA works collaboratively. For the Government, the ECA publishes a Trade Policy Recommendations annually. Tveters et al (2016) opined the World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only international organization maintaining and regulating the trad e related rules across the globe. The valuation rules concerning the imported seafood products follow the Valuation Agreement system of the WTO (Wto.org, 2016).The Customs value considers the Australian currency. In any case, the sum of due is not in Australian dollars, they consider the rate of the day when the goods are exported to Australia. The Commonwealth of Australia Gazette has underlined this rule. This customer value of products includes labor and package charges apart from the production cost. Whatever the importer have to pay for the goods is considered the transaction value of the product. This transactions value can be utilized in cases such as the buyers and sellers are correlated, they are not correlated, the association between them does not influence the price of the product (Agriculture.gov.au, 2016). Again, there can be deductions and additions in the transaction value for the purpose of royalties and commissions. Whenever, the transaction value is not applicable , the customs value is determined according to the following methods: It considers the price of the identical goods that are sold for the purpose of export to Australia. It considers the price of the same goods that are sold for the purpose of export to Australia. It considers the price of the imported, identical or same goods used during the sale in Australia. (Agriculture.gov.au, 2016) Sumner and McLeod (2015) discussed that the insurance and freight costs are excluded from the Customs value cost when these are transported to Australia from the place of export. Still, if the purchaser provides any inland freight or insurance cost before leaving the place of export, that amount is included within the Customs value of the imported foods. In 1947, twenty-three countries including the United States signed the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and by 1986, the membership increased to 123 countries. The primary objective is to encourage open economies, lower tariff and free trade (Fda.gov, 2016). As a result of it, the U.S economy has signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with multiple countries (Fda.gov, 2016). They have focused on developing Trans-Pacific partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to promote domestic and foreign liberalization of trade. However, U.S places huge tariff on some products including the canned tuna. The amount is 35% for imported canned tuna. (Fda.gov, 2016) Conclusion Through this essay, it has been discussed that Australia and the United Sates follow the strict guidelines for the import of the seafood products. A report came out in 2014 stated that about 55% of the total seafood consumption was restricted to mainly three types of seafood. These are- salmon, canned tuna, and shrimp. This is a consistent fact found in the U.S food history over the last two decades. The 84% of imported seafood here is mainly frozen and fresh products. The 12% of all the imported seafood products include the canned seafood. However, in 2013, reports came out regarding problems found in the Shrimps that Thailand exported to the United States. Thailand supply huge amount of shrimp to the U.S and the 2013 report revealed that the shrimps were diagnosed with the Early Mortality Syndrome. Such was the case that the U.S had to withdraw from shrimp importation that year. This not only amounted to huge loss but also sent a warning notice to the U.S concerning the health issu es. In 2014, another study revealed that seafood import worth $2 billion in the U.S might be through pirate fishing across the world. Health safety has been a major issue in Australia. Therefore, the AQIS has come forward to monitor the issues. However, the leading supplier of fish to Australia is New Zealand and this country operates under the FSANZ. Reference Agriculture.gov.au. (2016). Australia's seafood trade. [online] Available at: https://www.agriculture.gov.au/fisheries/aus-seafood-trade [Accessed 12 Sep. 2016]. Americanseafoodimports.com. (2016). American Seafood Imports. 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