More Collaboration with Customs - Intellectual Property Protection

Recently, Partnership members had the opportunity to sit down with representatives from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations for a presentation/roundtable to discuss "Operation Joint Venture," the U.S. government's initiative against intellectual property crime and commercial fraud.

First of all, what a fascinating presentation! To understand the scope of intellectual property theft and the sheer size of the illegal operations going on around us every day is astonishing. Some of these businesses - that are putting fraudulent goods onto the streets and, many times, into our homes every day have annual revenues in the tens of millions of dollars. One of the agents presenting said the estimates are that for the average American, 30-35% of what you use or consume on a daily basis is counterfeit. Yikes!

That's why many companies - names you know - have invested heavily in brand security. That's to let their customers know when they make a purchase, they're getting the genuine article. It's also why many U.S. companies have developed a close partnership with Operation Joint Venture - because counterfeiting hurts everyone. While fraud is absolutely detrimental to companies that produce goods, the individual American might not necessarily feel the sting when buying a purse or a pair of sneakers. But put it in perspective of a counterfeit pharmaceutical product, and it sheds a whole different light on the topic.

Especially in border communities, border and customs agents often have a stigma about them that bring to mind lines at the border and trade delays. Having had the opportunity to spend more and more time talking with the men and women protecting our border, it's clear that their goals are very much aligned with the business community's as far as enhancing and optimizing legitimate trade and border crossings. That's the crux of Operation Joint Venture. Companies are signing on to be the "eyes and ears" of the national economy - because the better systems and networks we have in place to stop illegal trade, the better and more streamlined our borders will be at facilitating legitimate trade.

For manufacturers looking for help with brand protection, the Operation Joint Venture presentation can be found here.

At the core of regional opportunities

The Partnership hosted 3,700 people at nearly 100 events in 2011, and 2012 will be even bigger.  Our seminars, networking opportunities, and congressional briefings are unmatched around town.

My personal favorite?  The Partnership's Movers & Shakers series, hosted by Andrew Rudnick.  M&S brings the experts in front of a small circle of Partnership members to provide an insider's perspective on regionally important priorities.  Recent installments of the M&S series have included issues including downtown development, the growth of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, and UB2020.

This morning, Canadian Consul General-Buffalo Marta Moszczenska and U.S. Consul General-Toronto Kevin Johnson joined Partnership members for a discussion about opportunities and challenges for Buffalo Niagara businesses associated with the Obama-Harper “Beyond the Border” plan.  M&S gave Partnership members up-close access and key insight on items like:

• expediting border crossings
• the need for increased for Can-Am cooperation
• the importance of our bi-national location
• (and this one almost goes without saying) opportunities for Buffalo Niagara businesses to leverage our Canadian neighbo(u)rs for growth 

Movers & Shakers is free for Partnership members and provides access to the key decision makers in town.  These intimate gatherings are closed to the media and are designed to put you in close contact with our region's heavy hitters.

The next installment of M&S is Friday, April 13 - three weeks from today - and features William Dudley, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of NY.  Dudley has been at the helm of the New York Fed since January 2009 and will host a discussion on the economic outlook for our nation, state and region. 

Learn more on our events page.

Korea - US Free Trade Agreement Takes Effect

On Thursday, March 15, the U. S. government implemented the Korea – U.S. Free Trade Agreement. This agreement will relieve duties on items directly traded between the US and South Korea. U.S. Customs has advised that until their system is fully updated to handle the duty free treatment of items under this agreement, full duties and taxes will need to be submitted with all entries and a post entry amendment will have to be submitted for the retroactive refund of duties paid on these entries.

The duty free treatment of items is being implemented in stages. Items that were added as a part of “Group A” received reduced or free treatment immediately. Subsequent groups will be added in the future. In addition, items will need to meet all eligibility requirements of the Korea Free Trade Agreement, which are specific to the product. Some items will require a tariff shift, others must meet minimum regional value content requirements, and some will require both. Given these complexities, it is best to seek professional advice to find out if your products are currently or will be eligible for treatment under the Korea Free Trade Agreement.

This blog was written by Damon Piatek, President & CEO of Welke Customs Brokers USA.

Rally for Roswell

Ask around, and you'll hear the statistics about the importance of Roswell Park in our community:

• 3,224 employees
• Patients from 46 states and 2 foreign countries
• 85 U.S. Patents
• 9 spin-off companies

Roswell Park is a major anchor of our economy and one of our greatest opportunities for the future. 

That's why it's so concerning that Governor Cuomo's budget proposes to essentially end RPCI's state funding in a mere 2 years. 

We understand the desire to limit spending, but Roswell Park simply holds too much potential to cut funding without a plan for an orderly separation. We strongly believe that changes must account for the complex and competitive world in which RPCI operates before moving forward with this proposal. We're asking our elected officials to implement a realistic plan allowing Roswell Park to transition from state support rather than cut it altogether. 

The stakes are high, and our elected officials need to hear from you. Yesterday, Roswell Park sent out a message to their supporters via the Partnership’s voterVOICE, an automated email system that sends a prewritten email to elected officials.  As of this morning, over 750 people have sent almost 4,000 emails to their state legislators as well as the Governor and Legislative leaders.  The message “Protect Roswell Park” is being received in Albany, as some legislators have already responded to the overwhelming influx of emails. 

It’s important that we keep the momentum going, and now; if you haven’t already, make sure you express your support for Roswell as the Senate and Assembly finish their proposed budgets for 2012-13.

Click here to use our voterVOICE technology to quickly email your representatives. To have even more of an impact, call your elected officials- voterVOICE will tell you who they are. Tell them you support Roswell and want to see New York State support it through an orderly transition away from its current status as a state-based public benefit corporation.

Business, Government, and Tourism Groups Team-Up for Easy Border Travel

Given the importance of efficient CanAm border travel at Buffalo Niagara bridge crossings, I was excited to have the opportunity to join the Peace Bridge Authority, Niagara Falls Bridge Commission, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Canada Border Services Agency, an extensive group of local trade and tourism organizations as well as Congressional and State staff representing our WNY delegation at the launch of a joint-initiative to increase participation in the NEXUS program over the coming year. NEXUS is a joint program between the U.S. and Canadian governments designed to expedite the border clearance process for low-risk, pre-approved travelers.

The NEXUS Niagara promotional effort is open to all interested individuals, customs brokers, tourism organizations, government entities, local attractions, and retail destinations directly or indirectly impacted by international travel regulations. The goal is simple but vital - enroll an increasing number of people into the program so that NEXUS one day becomes the predominant form of travel identification at area ports-of-entry.

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership is proud to be a NEXUS Niagara Ambassador! To help spread the word about NEXUS benefits a series of activities have been scheduled throughout the area. Interested in becoming a NEXUS Niagara Ambassador? Email nexusniagara@gmail.com or visit the NEXUS Niagara website for access to various marketing tools, including downloadable program brochures, posters, and web buttons for placement on individual or company websites.

NEXUS makes border travel fast - join the effort to help speed CanAm border crossings here in Buffalo Niagara!

The Billion Dollar Question

What do you see when you watch this video?





I see that Channel 2 knows who our elected officials approach when they want to know what Buffalo Niagara employers are thinking.  


We agree with Governor Cuomo that a strong region starts with a strong City of Buffalo, and we spend lots of time working on city-centric initiatives.  From the Regional Economic Development Council to UB2020 to advocacy to Roswell Park to the Buffalo Building Reuse Project and Greencode, the past year has seen a flurry of Partnership activity in and for the City of Buffalo.

Reflecting on our recent efforts for the City, it’s important to remember two things:

• We spend significant time and resources assisting and promoting the City not because we have to, but because it makes good business sense for our entire region
• Advocating for and supporting the City is one prong in our much larger effort to improve the economic competitiveness and expand economic activity in our entire region

That overall effort involves multiple programs bigger than one town, city, or our region as a whole.  It involves building and leveraging one collective voice – from our relationships with elected officials, from our affiliations with our area’s municipal chambers of commerce, and most importantly from our thousands of employer members – to enact changes in Albany and in Washington, DC. 


It involves adding business expertise, private sector know how, and local perspective to efforts underway in Albany and Washington.  It's something the Partnership - the organization our elected officials come to when they want to know what the private sector is thinking - does constantly.  


The beat goes on, and the "Buffalo Billion" is at the heart of our twofold mission - adding value for Partnership members and growing private investment across our region.  


We're working every day to ensure the money gets spent the right way, and your voice is a big part of our work.  

Collaborating with U.S. and Canadian Customs

On Tuesday this week, I had the opportunity to be a part of a roundtable discussion with regional CanAm border stakeholders hosted by the Canadian Consulate General. While we've been engaging in these kinds of conversations with increasing regularity, this week's meeting was attended by Canada Border Services Agency President Luc Portelance and Acting Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Tom Winkowski. Having the ear of these two decision-makers - especially at the same time - was as important a meeting as we've had in years on border-related issues.

Much of the conversation, as you'd expect, was focused on the recently released Obama-Harper "Beyond the Border" accord (read the Partnership's letter of support), and the next steps toward implementing the initiative's 32 recommendations. Both Portelance and Winkowski encouraged those in the room that active private sector support would be key to ensuring that the Beyond the Border agenda is a success. We assured them that since the initiatives outlined in the plan are things we've been advocating for in Washington and Ottawa for years, the private sector is in stride with them - and will be vocal about it at the appropriate time.

While many of the agenda items are large-scale policy changes that affect the CanAm relationship across the entire border, in the conversation we made a push for our #1 economic development priority on the 2012 Regional Agenda - relocating truck pre-inspection facilities from the Peace Bridge U.S. plaza to the Canadian plaza to mitigate bridge congestion. We have been encouraged since the Obama-Harper plan calls for a pilot project (without naming the site) to do just that, and wanted to make the point that we'd like to see the Peace Bridge be the test site - particularly with the U.S. plaza expansion getting underway. We made a similar case to our congressional members in Washington in January, and have since received word that Ottawa shares the same view. While we didn't get a "yes" (wouldn't THAT have been nice?!), we also left the meeting knowing it's not off the table. Which is good.

Lately we have seen a great deal of outreach from the federal government in various arenas (we had a roundtable with Health and Human Services a few weeks back, one with Immigration and Customs Enforcement yesterday and the Environmental Protection Agency will be in Buffalo on March 5). These opportunities don't come along all that often, so we take advantage of them to get Buffalo Niagara employers' message into the hands of departmental decision-makers. Tuesday's meeting, and the ability to create a relationship with the top people in CBP and CBSA was specifically important because in our region we eat, sleep, live and breathe the CanAm border. For the border to work correctly, we need to consistently be in their ear with the realities we face and the opportunities we see.

Special thanks to Consul General Marta Moszczenska and the Canadian Consultate for setting up the event on Tuesday. We believe it's the beginning of a fruitful dialogue and a stronger relationship between the Buffalo Niagara business community and CanAm border decision-makers.