One percent, or around 104 members, of the 10,452 Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) members were pushed out of the program in 2012, the agency said in a document outlining the suspensions, removal, appeals and reinstatement process for the program. The agency also said 3 percent, or 313 members, were suspended in 2012. Those low suspension and removal numbers point to a successful working relationship for the program that includes "extensive outreach efforts" to help a member regain compliance before punitive action is taken, said CBP.
The U.S. should focus on eliminating tariffs, harmonizing trusted trader programs and making flexible rules of origin as negotiating objectives with Japan, industry groups told the U.S. Trade Representative’s office in comments posted on June 10. The comments, 89 in all, were submitted to help USTR craft negotiating objectives with Japan as part of the ongoing Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement negotiations (see 13050608).
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The decline in CBP's validations of companies applying for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program is due to a change in the revalidation time period, said a CBP spokeswoman. "The number of validations is slightly lower compared to 2012 as we have adjusted the revalidation time period from 3 years to 4 years," she said. A recently released CBP document on the C-TPAT program seemed to indicate a slowdown in validations this year (see 13060511).
CBP's validations of companies applying for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program appears to be declining year to year, according to a list of C-TPAT program achievements released by the agency. While there's still time for 2013 to catch up to past years in terms of the number of validations, if validations this year continue at the current pace, they will be about half of the total validations completed in 2012. Through June 3, CBP has validated a total of 616 C-TPAT applicants, which includes 172 initial validations and 444 revalidations, said CBP. Last year, there were a total of 2,376 validations, including 640 initial validations and 1,736 revalidations, the report said. CBP didn't comment.
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The Food and Drug Administration needs to do more to use the trusted trader model to manage food safety risks, said the American Association of Exporters and Importers. “Moving away from certifying individual transactions to certifying supply chains allows FDA and industry to focus supply chain security resources more effectively, thereby targeting high-risk operators and supply chains,” said AAEI in comments on FDA’s Jan. 16 preventative controls proposal (see 13010429). “Trusted traders are industry leaders in their respective trade as well as leaders in supply chain security and compliance,” AAEI said. “They represent low risk and should not be subjected to the same level or type of oversight as others not so designated.”
CBP is working with other government agencies "to evaluate the possibility of expanding the [Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism] program to include U.S. exporters," the agency said in a fact sheet on the C-TPAT program. CBP is also working to partner with other agencies to "exchange common program information, metrics, and operational lessons in an effort to identify opportunities to increase efficiency and reduce redundancy within their respective trusted trader programs to ultimately streamline the process," it said.
The Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC) should be allowed to review results of a trusted trader pilot combining the Importer Self Assessment (ISA) and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) before the agency issues the final trader program requirements, the group said in a recommendation to CBP at the May 22 COAC meeting. The COAC trusted trader subcommittee said the group should get a chance to provide input on the program "in its entirety" before COAC decides whether to endorse the program, the recommendation said. There's some uncertainty within the trusted trader subcommittee of the COAC over plans to combine, said COAC member George Weise from Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services during the meeting.
Industry representatives commended the Senate customs reauthorization bill in its first formal hearing May 22, and said the bill’s provisions on intellectual property rights, the Automated Commercial Environment, the International Trade Data System and de minimis will go a long way towards facilitating trade. The bill -- S-662, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act -- was introduced by Senate Finance Committee leaders Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in March (see 13032906 for more on specific provisions in the bill).