Addressing Cross Border E-Commerce Challenges with Emerging Technologies

Project Report

The e-commerce marketplace has spurred increased competition, lower prices, and more variety. By offering ease of access and more ways by which transactions can be completed, e-commerce is fast becoming the platform that consumers and businesses use to access global markets. Research estimates that e-commerce accounts for 12% of global trade of physical goods, both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C or retail) sales. The U.S. International Trade Commission reports global e-commerce totaled over $27 trillion in 2016, with B2B comprising over 85% of that total.

There are specific gaps and challenges for CBP to obtain complete and accurate data of cross-border e-commerce shipments, such as: (i) data held by intermediaries; (ii) seller or intermediary without physical presence; (iii) fragmented data; and (iv) low data quality. All result in insufficient data for Customs authorities to achieve efficient processing of crossborder e-commerce import transactions, and shipments.

This report assesses options to address e-commerce data sharing challenges, how to leverage emerging technologies to augment and enhance data sharing, the economic costs and benefits from incorporating emerging technologies, and improved risk assessment and targeting capabilities for CBP.

Full report available for download

DHS S&T News Release: https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/2021/04/23/news-release-dhs-coe-releases-report-cross-border-e-commerce