CBP to Roll Out Trusted Trader Portal Next Year, Ease Enforcement of New CTPAT Criteria
CBP intends to begin transitioning members of its Importer Security Assessment program into a new Trusted Trader portal in the coming months, said Liz Schmelzinger, director-CTPAT Partnership Programs at CBP’s Office of Field Operations, during an Oct. 3 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee. The seven participants in the Trusted Trader pilot began testing the new portal on Oct. 1 and, once testing is completed, CBP plans to move ISA members onto the portal throughout the following year.
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The new CTPAT Trade Compliance portal will allow members of the trade compliance component of Trusted Trader to communicate directly with import specialists at the Centers of Excellence and Expertise and their national account managers “in a way that keeps the history of the conversation,” Schmelzinger said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for creativity in this environment,” which alone should prove a benefit for members because they will “have one-stop shopping” to manage their accounts with CBP. The agency will also get rid of the ISA moniker.
Once Trusted Trader pilot participants have wrapped up testing, they hope by December or January, ISA members will be transitioned onto the portal “on or about the anniversary date” of their annual notification letters. “This will be an incremental process,” Schmelzinger said. That way companies will be given the opportunity for a one-on-one exchange, or at least an introduction in smaller groups, and have the opportunity to provide CBP with feedback and enhancements that Trusted Trader pilot participants may have missed.
“When we get you hooked up with the portal you will have an opportunity to have white glove service in terms of getting your data in there and being acclimated into whatever benefits are appropriately rolled out at that time,” Schmelzinger said. More concrete information on those benefits, as well as an update on how the test of the portal went, is coming at the next COAC meeting in December, she said. CBP recently posted a list of eight Trusted Trader benefits being prioritized due to their feasibility and impact on industry (see 1809260039).
Meanwhile, CBP continues to gather input on proposed CTPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) minimum security criteria posted to the CTPAT portal in July (see 1807300011), with that feedback due at the end of October. CBP will adopt a four-phase implementation plan starting in 2020 (see 1807300011),with the first phase consisting of cyber, seal and conveyance security; the second, of security training, threat awareness, business partner requirements and risk assessments; the third, of security visions and responsibility and physical access security; and the fourth, agriculture, personnel and procedural security.
Beyond that phased approach, CBP will enforce the new criteria taking into account the difficulties of implementation. “The reality is, if your validation is day 40 after implementing cybersecurity criteria and you have not yet addressed that, we will not have an issue with that, necessarily,” Schmelzinger said. “The reality is, we know we will have some issues in implementation.” The “understanding” is that CTPAT members will do what they can to meet any new minimum security criteria and take steps to satisfy the requirements, with each supply chain specialist having a dialogue with their CTPAT members about where they fall short.
“It is not in our interest to have people leave the program,” Schmelzinger said. “It is in our interest to have people leave the program who are not participating as righteous partners. For those trying, I think we will bend over backwards to accommodate the fact that you enjoy a relationship as a CTPAT member,” she said.
Once the new criteria are implemented, CBP will continue refinements going forward, said Tom Overacker, executive director-cargo and conveyance security at CBP. “This is not going to be a once every 17 years exercise. We will continue to work together to refine and improve them as necessary,” he said.