CBP Commissioner Announces U.S. Customs Will be Allowed to Perform C-TPAT Validations in China
During a speech at the recent Western Cargo Conference (WESCCON), the Customs and Border Protection Commissioner stated that he was notified by China's Minister of Customs Mu Xinsheng on October 11, 2007, that China has approved the conduct of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism validations of importer supply chains using CBP officials.
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(The previous policy of the Chinese government prevented CBP Supply Chain Security Specialists from performing C-TPAT validations in China.)
CBP officials had earlier reported that the Chinese government was reviewing CBP's recently implemented Third Party Validation Pilot, under which 11 private companies are authorized to perform C-TPAT validations of the supply chains of selected importers (generally those who source 75% or more of their imports in China - a pool of approximately 300).
CBP officials had also noted that trade interest in the pilot was minimal due to concerns about sharing proprietary business and security data, and the costs associated with the validation, which must be incurred by the C-TPAT importer.
(The Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act (P.L.109-347) mandated that CBP develop a 1 year voluntary C-TPAT third-party validation pilot program for China only, where private companies would perform the validations. In spring 2007, CBP began accepting applications from entities wishing to act as third party validators for this pilot, which was implemented in summer 2007.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 10/10/07 news, 07101005, for BP summary of recent CBP comments on the pilot. See ITT's Online Archives or 08/01/07 news, 07080105, for BP summary of CBP information on the pilot and 11 selected third party validators. See ITT's Online Archives or 04/27/07 news, 07042705, for BP summary of procurement notice on the pilot.)