TIA Applauds U.S. Customs and Border Protection for Creating E-Commerce/Small Business Branch

December 6, 2016 | The Toy Industry Association (TIA) applauds U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for recently establishing an e-commerce and small business team within the agency’s Office of Trade to address the growth in online sales.

Worldwide e-commerce sales are expected to top $4 trillion by 2020, according to the CBP’s Nov. 25 press release announcing the new branch, which will address the “various complexities resulting from this new global shift.” The agency reiterated its commitment to “ensuring the safe and legitimate flow of trade, while at the same time identifying and preventing inferior and unsafe merchandise” from reaching consumers. Consumer outreach will be a part of the office’s mission. The press release warns consumers to be mindful of goods with prices that are “too good to be true,” websites that do not provide legitimate phone numbers or addresses and sellers who do not have good customer feedback.

“We commend the CBP for creating a new e-commerce and small business branch. As counterfeits on e-commerce platforms have become increasingly problematic, TIA has worked extensively with the CBP and the Office of IP Enforcement to identify solutions for these issues,” said Ed Desmond, TIA's executive vice president of external affairs. “TIA looks forward to continuing to work with the CBP and others in the e-commerce and small business office to increase enforcement of these fake and potentially unsafe toys.”

Brenda Smith, the CBP’s Office of Trade executive assistant commissioner said: “The new branch demonstrates CBP’s commitment to support small and micro-businesses while addressing the challenges posed by this dynamic trading environment.”

CBP representatives will be present at TIA’s External Affairs Strategy Meeting taking place December 13-14 in Washington, D.C. They will share agency priorities for the next year and address how the CBP intends to tackle the growing issue of counterfeits online, trade enforcement and trade facilitation for small and new businesses.