MINNEAPOLIS -- The U.S., Mexico and Canada are edging closer to implementing a unified portal to process import and export compliance verifications, as the U.S. strives to meet a 2016 deadline on Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) completion and Canada wraps up work on its own single window, said acting CBP deputy commissioner Kevin McAleenan during June 17 remarks at the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI) annual conference. Mexico has already completed work on its single window counterpart and integration among the three countries is “almost visible on the horizon,” said McAleenan.
The role of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) membership within international trade is growing, not declining, even as other programs emerge, said Lauren Kaufer, director of the C-TPAT program at CBP, during the American Conference Institute's Import Compliance and Enforcement forum on June 13. As an example of C-TPAT's expansion, Kaufer noted CBP is planning to finish up a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) with Israel during a World Customs Organization event at the end of the month and is hoping to finish up another MRA with Mexico by the end of the year. CBP announced work toward a MRA with Israel in 2012 (see 12121007) and with Mexico last year (see 13012215).
CBP will begin accepting applicants to its Trusted Trader program pilot on June 16, it said in a notice announcing the pilot and outlining the benefits and responsibilities associated with participation. The long-awaited pilot combines CBP’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) supply chain security program with its Importer Self Assessment (ISA) import compliance program. Participating importers will have to meet increased recordkeeping and reporting requirements, but will receive benefits like reduced targeting, partial release of held shipments, and the option to be exempt from Non-Intrusive Inspections.
The coming "Trusted Trader" pilot that will combine parts of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and the Importer Self Assessment programs, will give the Food and Drug Administration the ability to see the C-TPAT status for importers, said Domenic Veneziano, director of FDA Import Operations. Now, the FDA is unable to look at C-TPAT status for importers because it's a voluntary program, he said. The new access within the pilot program will give FDA another tool to consider the risks associated with imports of food and other commodities, he said. Veneziano and other government officials spoke June 12 at the Import Compliance and Enforcement forum put on by the American Conference Institute.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is inspecting all high-risk containers prior to admission into U.S. commerce, but work continues to identify potentially dangerous cargo at the earliest possible time, said witnesses at a June 4 Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing on U.S. port security. The sharpening of risk-based mechanisms to assess high-risk cargo, such as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Importer Security Filing, is a more effective security measure than the recently delayed congressional mandate to scan 100 percent of inbound cargo across the board, added Kevin McAleenan, acting CBP deputy commissioner.
The House Appropriations Committee called on the Food and Drug Administration to work with CBP to develop a "Trusted Trader Program" designed to allow shipments from “highly compliant” importers to be released with minimal documentation. The committee made the recommendation as part of a report that accompanied fiscal year 2015 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding legislation on May 29 (see 14053012). The agencies have already started work towards a test of a joint Trusted Trader program that would combine Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Importer Self Assessment programs (see 14021819).
Dozens of industry organizations called on Congress to repeal a law that requires 100 percent scanning on U.S. bound maritime cargo containers in a June 2 letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson. While DHS aims to comply with the law, another two-year extension is necessary due to financial and practical constraints, Johnson told the House Judiciary Committee on May 29 (here). The industry signatories, made up of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America, the National Retail Federation, the American Apparel and Footwear Association and 67 other organizations, also expressed support for the two-year extension to the implementation deadline.
CBP and the Food and Drug Administration will revive work within the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) through a new project aimed at improving data quality, CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske said during the May 22 COAC meeting. The group will aim to improve communication, so that "when restrictions are placed on certain commodities coming in that are impacted by FDA regulations, that we work and we look at how we can move more expeditiously," he said. Kerlikowske also said a Federal Register notice to initiate the Trusted Trader pilot program should come soon and is now on his desk for signature. The pilot would combine Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism with Importer Self-Assessment .
The removal of Egyptian President Mohamaed Morsi has contributed to the growing threat to the supply chain in the region, said CBP in an alert to Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) members. The political instability in Egypt has "significantly increased the threat that terrorist groups will carry out an attack against critical supply chain elements in the country and its surrounding waterways, including the Suez Canal," said the C-TPAT alert. "In the nine months since President Morsi’s ouster, terrorist groups in Egypt have demonstrated a heightened intent to attack international supply chains in the country." An attack on a cargo ship transiting the Suez Canal would be a high-profile target for terrorists and has the "ability to disrupt the approximately eight percent of world trade that passes through the waterway each year." CBP advises C-TPAT members to reassess risk factors for shipments originating in Egypt or transiting through Egypt and minimize container drop times, among other things.
The Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) for CBP will next meet May 22 at 1 p.m. in Miami, CBP said in a notice. Registration is available (here).