The Food and Drug Administration has yet to publish several major rules related to implementation of the Food Safety Modernization Act, but has made a lot of progress, said Domenic Veneziano, director of FDA’s new Office of Enforcement and Import Operations, at the Food Chemical News’ Complying with FSMA’s Food Import Regulations conference Dec. 4 in Washington, D.C. Proposed rules on the Foreign Supplier Verification Program and Third-Party Accreditation have been submitted for Office of Management and Budget approval, and these programs, among others, will serve as important tools given FDA’s resource constraints, he said.
CBP's planned combination of trusted trade programs, a consolidation of Importer Self Assessment (ISA) and Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), would require members of the combined program to meet ISA criteria, said Michael Ginn, director of CBP's C-TPAT Field Office. Ginn spoke on a panel Nov. 27 at the CBP East Coast Trade Symposium. The goal in combining the programs is to create a singular validation and management approach to the trusted trader program, said Dan Baldwin, CBP executive director for Cargo and Conveyance Security, who spoke on the same panel. “We are taking a more reasoned approach on how to validate a company’s compliance level," said Baldwin. "There is every reason to believe a small company is just as responsible and deserving of our trust as the large corporations.”
The U.S. and Taiwan signed a mutual recognition arrangement for the supply chain security program. They agreed Nov. 26 to mutual standards in Taiwan’s Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program and the U.S.’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program. It recognizes the compatibility between the Taiwan and U.S. cargo security programs and acknowledges that Directorate General of Customs, Taiwan Ministry of Finance and CBP will accept the security status of members of the other program, CBP said.
The U.S. and Japan have agreed to expand Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) agreement to apply to exports from the U.S. being imported in to Japan, said CBP Deputy Commissioner David Aguilar, speaking at the CBP East Coast Trade Symposium Nov. 27. The U.S. signed in 2009 a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) that recognizes compatibility between the U.S. Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and Japan's Partners AEO cargo security programs. That agreement didn't apply to U.S. exports to Japan.
The Border Trade Alliance (BTA) announced the its leaders for 2013.
CBP announced the location and agenda for next meeting of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC), Dec. 4 at 1 p.m. (ET) in Washington, D.C. Online registration for webcast and in-person participation is available through Nov. 30, said a notice in the Federal Register Nov. 16.
CBP updated its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the process toward achieving mutual recognition arrangements (MRA) and bilateral understandings between two customs administrations. Among new material included since the previous version, CBP notes "an MRA is expected to be signed with Taiwan in the Fall of 2012." The update also includes additional detail on the process for mutual recognition of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program and foreign industry partner programs
CBP posted an updated document on the mutual recognition of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and foreign industry partnership programs. The document closely follows CBP's August version.
CBP will host a Trade Fair to provide members of the trade community the opportunity to speak one on one with representatives of federal agencies involved with imports and exports, CBP said in a CSMS message. The event will be Nov. 8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the M.O. Campbell Educational Center located at 1865 Aldine Bender Road, Houston, TX 77032.
CBP released a list of government agencies that will attend a coming trade fair in Texas: