The DOC mission is to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity for all U.S. communities. The DOC is the voice of business in the Federal Government and works to drive U.S. economic competitiveness, strengthen the domestic industry, and spur the growth of quality jobs in the U.S. The DOC fosters innovation and invention that underpin the U.S. comparative advantage. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office provides the legal foundation and protections to ensure American innovators profit from their work. A primary goal for the DOC is to develop new fields of profitable trade and promote commerce at home and abroad.
The ITA is a bureau within the Department of Commerce, that's existed since the establishment of the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903. The ITA works to strengthen the competitiveness of U.S. industry, promoting trade and investment, and ensuring fair trade and compliance with trade laws and agreements. The focus is to promote U.S. exports, attract inbound investments, and defend against unfair trade. The ITA assist and advocates for U.S. businesses in international markets and helps global companies invest in the United States. ITA maintains The Harmonized Tariff Schedule for imports.
The USCB was established in 1902 as an agency in the Department of the Interior. In 1903, it was moved to the Department of Commerce and Labor and afterwards moved to the Department of Commerce in 1913. In 1954, the existing laws governing the USCB statistical programs were passed by congress and codified in Title 13 of the U.S. Code.
The USCB maintains the official government statistics for international trade and is part of the U.S. Federal Statistical System. The USCB is the official source for US export and import statistics and responsible for issuing regulations governing the reporting of all export shipments from the U.S. The Foreign Trade Division of the USCB compiles and publishes the official U.S. Foreign Trade Statistics.
USCB provides a comprehensive International Trade platform with regulations, reports and "Schedule B" which is the statistical classification of domestic commodities exported from the United States. Export data can be summarized at the Schedule B level and import data can be summarized at Harmonized Tariff Schedule. Schedule B uses a 10-digit Harmonized System (HS) classification code. The classifications are harmonized to the first 6-digit System (HS) managed by the World Customs Organization (WCO). USCB maintains the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) which is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies to classify business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.
The USITC is the agency of the federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. USITC is an independent, quasi-judicial entity that analyzes trade issues such as tariffs, competitiveness, unfair trade practices and intellectual property and copyright infringement. The USITC investigates the impact of imports on U.S. industries and directs actions against unfair trade practices, such as subsidies; dumping; and intellectual property infringement, including copyright infringement.
USITC maintains The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS). The HTSUS is the official source for determining tariff (custom duties) for goods imported into the U.S. HTSUS bases the tariff schedule on the Harmonized System (HS) that is maintained by the World Customs Organization. USITC maintains both the HS 8-digit and HS 10-digit codes for imports and a DataWeb platform that provides import and export data at the HTS, and Standard International Trade Classifications levels. USITC also maintains suffix import codes that have classifications for meat primals.
The USTR is responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy, and overseeing negotiations with other countries. The head of USTR is part of the Executive Office of the President who serves as the president's principal trade advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on trade issues.
On March 1st, 2003, the Border Patrol, along with four other Federal entities, merged into Customs and Border Protection under the Department of Homeland Security. Before CBP, security, compliance and facilitation of international trade were conducted by multiple organizations. CBP is the largest federal law enforcement agency of the Department of Homeland Security. The CBP strives to safeguard American consumers from harmful and counterfeit imports by ensuring that the goods that enter the U.S. market are genuine, safe, and legally sourced. CBP works with importers and exporters to become familiar with applicable laws and regulations and facilitate international trade.
CBP utilizes the Automated Export System (AES) as the primary instrument used for collecting export trade data, which are used by the Census Bureau and other agencies for statistical purposes. Export information is collected electronically and edited immediately, errors are detected and corrected at the time of filing. AES was designed to assure compliance and enforcement of laws relating to exporting, improve trade statistics, reduce duplicate reporting to multiple agencies, and improve customer service. AES is a nationwide system operational at all ports and for all methods of transportation and the central point through which export shipments are filed electronically to CBP.
FAS is the USDA agency that links U.S. agriculture to the world to enhance export opportunities and global food security. FAS has a global network of 100 offices covering approximately 180 countries. FAS expands and maintains access to foreign markets for U.S. agricultural products by removing trade barriers and enforcing U.S. rights under existing trade agreements. FAS leads USDA's efforts to help developing countries improve their agricultural systems and build their trade capacity. FAS partners with more than 70 cooperator groups representing a cross-section of the U.S. food and agricultural industry and manages a toolkit of trade promotion programs to help U.S. exporters develop and maintain markets for hundreds of products. FAS also supports U.S. agricultural exporters through export credit guarantee programs and other types of assistance. FAS provides the Global Agricultural Trade System (GATS) platform that has reporting capabilities for meat import data at the primal level.
FSIS is the agency of the USDA whose responsibility is to ensure the US commercial meat, poultry and egg supply is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. FSIS ensures food safety through the authorities of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act, and humane animal handling through the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. FSIS inspectors are assigned to federal slaughter and food processing establishments where they inspect and verify the processing of tens of billions of pounds of meat, poultry, and egg products. FSIS is part of a science-based national system to ensure food safety and food defense.
FSIS implements an equivalent determination process to ensure that US treaty obligations under the World Trade Organization's Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) are met. FSIS Equivalence process determines whether an import or export country's food safety inspection system achieves FSIS's appropriate level of protection for public health as applied domestically in the United States. Countries wishing to become eligible to export meat, poultry, or egg products to the US must demonstrate that they have a regulatory food safety inspection system that is equivalent to that of the US. FSIS inspectors are also assigned to import establishments where they reinspect meat products at port of entries.
FSIS maintains a HACCP based Product Categorization for imported products and maintains the Import & Export Library that identifies countries with approved safety inspection systems and eligible meat products. FSIS also provides reports on Port Of Entry reinspected products.