Establishment of deadlines for agency responses to trade community requests

(a) In general Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection— (1) shall review any regulations governing deadlines for rulings and decisions of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including with respect to petitions, protests, and requests for advice, and customs rulings; and (2) may, in consultation with members of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, revise such regulations. (b) Updates to existing deadlines In a case in which a deadline is already established for a response described in subsection (a), the Commissioner shall— (1) review the deadline; and (2) if appropriate, revise the deadline to be more expeditious. (c) Report required Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress and make available to the public a report on rulings and decisions of U.S. Customs and Border Protection that includes— (1) an assessment of— (A) the average annual number of rulings and decisions described in subsection (a) considered by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including such rulings and decisions that are not subject to a statutory or regulatory deadline; (B) the average response time of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to petitions, protests, and requests for advice, including the total amount of responses made before and after the applicable statutory or regulatory deadline; (C) the average time for issuance of customs rulings by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, including the total amount of rulings issued before and after the applicable statutory or regulatory deadline; (D) for deadlines not met, the average time it took for U.S. Customs and Border Protection to respond or issue a ruling; (E) reasons provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection explaining why the deadlines were not met; and (F) in the case of rulings and decisions not subject to a statutory or regulatory deadline, reasons for the length of time for issuing such rulings and making such decisions; (2) a description of the petition and protest process, including timelines that apply under statutes or regulations as of the date of the report; and (3) recommendations for Congress on improving the time taken by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to respond to petitions, protests, and requests for advice and to issue rulings.