Centers of Excellence and Expertise: What Importers and Exporters Should Know
CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise are now an established part of how trade compliance, post-release activity, and account-based processing are managed across U.S. ports of entry.
by Jim Roberts, VP of Compliance, J.M.Rodgers
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on February 7, 2018, and was updated on June 4, 2026, to reflect the current role of CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise in trade compliance and account-based processing.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise, commonly called CEEs or Centers, are no longer a new initiative. They are now an established part of how CBP manages trade compliance, post-release processing, and account-based interactions with the importing community.
For importers, exporters, and companies involved in global trade, understanding the role of the Centers is important because they help shape how CBP reviews entries, resolves compliance questions, and applies trade rules across ports of entry.
What Are CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise?
The Centers of Excellence and Expertise are industry-focused teams within CBP. Instead of managing certain trade functions only at the individual port level, the Centers allow CBP to organize post-release trade activity by industry sector and importer account.
This structure was designed to create greater consistency across ports, improve CBP’s industry knowledge, and support more uniform decision-making on trade compliance matters. While CBP officers and Port Directors continue to play a critical role at the port level, the Centers handle many post-release and compliance-related responsibilities that affect importers on a national basis.
In practical terms, this means an importer’s activity may be reviewed through an account-based lens rather than as isolated transactions at separate ports.
Why the Centers Matter to Importers
The Centers were developed to help CBP modernize trade processing and strengthen compliance oversight. For importers, the most important takeaway is that consistency matters.
If your company imports through multiple ports, CBP can review your import activity across those ports through a more centralized, industry-focused structure. That makes it even more important to maintain consistent internal procedures, accurate documentation, and strong compliance controls across your entire import operation.
Companies should pay close attention to areas such as classification, valuation, country of origin, free trade agreement eligibility, antidumping and countervailing duty applicability, post-summary corrections, and prior disclosures. Any inconsistency across ports, business units, brokers, suppliers, or internal teams can create unnecessary compliance risk.
What Responsibilities Do the Centers Handle?
The Centers have authority over a range of post-release trade functions. While specific responsibilities can vary depending on the issue, the Centers are closely tied to matters such as:
Entry summary review, post-summary corrections, protests, prior disclosures, trade agreement eligibility, admissibility questions, and other compliance-related activity.
Port Directors continue to manage core port-level functions, including cargo release, examinations, manifests, and border security responsibilities. The overall model separates many post-release trade and compliance functions from the physical movement and inspection of cargo at the port.
For importers, this reinforces the need to treat compliance as an ongoing account-level responsibility, not just a shipment-by-shipment task.
The Role of ACE and Account-Based Processing
The Centers work alongside CBP’s broader modernization efforts, including the Automated Commercial Environment, or ACE. ACE gives CBP and the trade community a centralized electronic environment for entry data, filings, post-summary corrections, protests, and other trade activity.
Together, ACE and the Centers give CBP more visibility into importer activity across ports and over time. This supports more consistent processing, but it also means importers should expect their data, documentation, and compliance practices to be reviewed with a wider operational view.
A strong import compliance program should be built around accurate data, clear procedures, and consistent execution.
What Importers Should Do Now
Because the Centers are now part of CBP’s established operating structure, importers should make sure their compliance programs are aligned with this account-based approach.
That means reviewing internal controls, confirming that import documentation is consistent, ensuring brokers have clear standard operating procedures, and monitoring recurring compliance issues before they become larger problems.
Importers should also make sure they understand which Center is associated with their industry sector and how Center-level communications or requests should be handled internally. A delayed, incomplete, or inconsistent response to CBP can create unnecessary risk, especially when multiple departments or business units are involved.
Where Duty Drawback Fits In
For companies that import goods and later export them, destroy them, or manufacture exported products using imported materials, duty drawback may also be part of the broader compliance picture.
Duty drawback allows eligible companies to recover certain duties, taxes, and fees paid on imported merchandise when statutory requirements are met. Because drawback involves import data, export data, documentation, timelines, and CBP review, it should be managed carefully and consistently.
J.M. Rodgers has deep experience helping companies evaluate, build, and manage duty drawback programs. Our team works with importers and exporters to identify opportunities, prepare claims, maintain documentation, and support compliance throughout the process.
The Bottom Line
CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise are now a permanent part of the trade environment. For importers and exporters, the key issue is not whether the Centers will affect trade compliance, but whether internal processes are strong enough to support consistent, account-level review.
Companies that maintain accurate data, strong documentation, and clear import procedures will be better positioned to manage CBP interactions efficiently and reduce compliance risk.
If your company imports through multiple ports, works with multiple suppliers, or has complex import and export activity, now is a good time to review your compliance procedures and duty drawback opportunities.
Need Help Reviewing Your Import Compliance Procedures?
CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise review importer activity through a more centralized, account-based structure. If your company imports through multiple ports, works with multiple suppliers, or needs support with entry compliance, post-summary corrections, prior disclosures, or duty drawback opportunities, J.M. Rodgers can help.