简体中文
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed an executive order introducing a raft of measures to streamline export and import procedures for the country's small businesses.
The order is especially important to small and medium-sized companies that depend on global trade, as it will cut the time of processing and approval procedure "from days to minutes" for small businesses that export American-made goods and services through the International Trade Data System (ITDS), the White House said in a statement.
Currently, businesses must submit information to dozens of government agencies, often on paper forms, and wait for days for approval before moving goods across the borders.
The ITDS, the new electronic system connecting U.S. Customs, the trade community and 47 government agencies, will allow businesses to electronically transmit the data required to import or export cargo through a "single-window."
Once fully implemented in December 2016 , the ITDS will dramatically reduce the time and expense for businesses to move the more than 50 million containers and 3.8 trillion U.S. dollars worth of goods that cross borders of the United States each year, it noted.
The new executive order also charges the government with a task to partner with non-government stakeholders to build more efficient business processes and improve border management policies.
A newly expanded group, the Border Interagency Executive Council (BIEC), will be responsible for improving coordination among dozens of agencies with import and export requirements and with outside stakeholders. The BIEC is also tasked with cutting red tape and reducing supply chain inefficiencies, while managing the risks presented by goods flowing in and out of the United States.
In his State of the Union address delivered late last month, Obama set an ambitious agenda to make 2014 a year of action via using his executive authority to act on his own where he can without obtaining prior approval from Congress.
