International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Oct. 26-30 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP hopes to strengthen its relationship between the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program and the World Business Alliance for Secure Commerce Organization (WBO) under a new action plan, the agency announced recently. Under the plan, when a CTPAT member “has a BASC certified company as part of its supply chain, the CTPAT member only needs to document that this business partner is BASC certified in order to meet its CTPAT business partner monitoring and oversight obligations,” CBP said. Agency personnel will also now have access to WBO databases, CBP said. The plan will also result in creation of a Supply Chain Security Committee, described as an “expert group where supply chain security issues are discussed with organizations from the private sector that mirror what CTPAT does in the Public sector.” CBP said the “objectives under the CBP-WBO Action Plan will yield benefits to both organizations and to the trade at large” and that “with limited resources in both government and business, CBP must foster a global supply chain system that is prepared for, and can withstand, evolving threats.” BASC, which was originally the Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition, was within the U.S. Customs Service until 2002, when, after CTPAT was created, it was established as a separate nonprofit organization named WBO, CBP said.
CBP is working on a response to the proposal that goods under withhold release orders could be held in foreign-trade zones before the final determination on its status, attendees at the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones virtual conference learned Oct. 27. But Jim Swanson, CBP director-cargo and conveyance security and controls, said “there are issues with that” idea, or else it probably would have been done already.
CBP posted recordings and some frequently asked questions from each of the sessions during the agency's Virtual Trade Week (see 2009110014), 2009090057, 2009100002 and 2009100049).
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) Intelligent Enforcement Subcommittee offered some broad enforcement process improvement suggestions as part of a white paper on CBP's “intelligent enforcement modernization” efforts. CBP posted the document ahead of the next COAC meeting Oct. 7. Among the “solutions” mentioned are changes to the Fines, Penalties and Forfeiture (FPF) branches and revisions to mitigation guidelines.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet Oct. 7, remotely, beginning at 1 p.m. EDT, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by Oct. 6. The COAC will hear from the following subcommittees on the topics listed below and then will review, deliberate and formulate recommendations on how to proceed on those topics:
International Trade Today is providing readers with the top stories from Sept. 8-11 in case they were missed. All articles can be found by searching on the titles or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
CBP is seeing an uptick in companies pulling out of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, Manuel Garza, CBP director of CTPAT in the Office of Field Operations, said. “Because of COVID, we have seen an increase in the number of companies that have withdrawn from the program,” he said. The program still has about 11,400 total members and 315 trade compliance members, he said while speaking at a CBP Virtual Trade Week session Sept. 9. Some 53.4% of U.S. imports by value are CTPAT-certified, according to a CBP presentation.
CT Strategies hired Shawn Beddows as vice president of global services, the consulting group said in a news release. Beddows previously worked at the International Air Transport Association on cargo security matters in the Cargo Border Management Office. He was also the acting director of the CBP Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Program and is an “Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Technical and Operational Adviser recognized by the World Customs Organization,” CT Strategies said.
Full compliance with the CBP proposal to revamp multiple government standards customs brokers are required to meet (see 2006040037) would likely take at least a year to complete, and potentially more, the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America said in comments filed Aug. 4. The updates would require dramatic changes during an already especially complex time in the industry and the broader economy, it said. Comments in the docket are due Aug. 4.