On August 18, 2011, a COAC1 meeting was held in Long Beach, CA where CBP and COAC members discussed plans to develop recommendations for broker reform by October, roll out full-blown Centers for Excellence and Expertise in October, pilot simplified entry and financial process in October, expand the air cargo advance screening pilot to additional types of carriers and countries, and add export processing to the Automated Commercial Environment.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection states it has improved the C-TPAT Portal Status Verification Interface (SVI) so that it notifies all contacts associated with a Partner Account SVI monitoring page if certain changes have occurred, including (1) a company drops off the list (they generate a new SVI number), (2) a company status changes to a Non-Certified state, or (3) a company status changes to a Certified state.
The Transportation Security Administration has issued its final rule on air cargo screening, which is effective September 19, 2011. TSA states that the final rule removes two major requirements concerning validation firms and certification of aircraft operators and makes other clarifying changes to the provisions on foreign air carrier security, indirect air carrier security, and certification renewal for screening facilities.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for August 8-12, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
On May 17, 2011, the USCIB and AAEI asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Bersin to consider 18 additional benefits for the "next generation" of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) for Tier 2 and 3 participants, including zero inspections, eliminating CBP Form 28s, and releasing cargo based on 10+2 data.
Broker Power is providing readers with some of the top stories for August 1-5, 2011 in case they were missed last week.
On July 27, 2011, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Deputy Commissioner Aguilar hosted a Trade Day forum with several groups, including Businesses for a Better Border, also known as B3.1 Among other things, CBP states that a pilot using single application requirements for Canada's Partners in Protection Program (PIP) and CBP's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) was very successful and that CBP is looking at expanding the pilot in September.2
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an information notice on the Importer Security Filing (ISF) Portal that includes information on the recently announced ISF Reports available on the ISF Portal via the ACE Portal. The notice states that this new feature is available for Trade Account Owners with Importer, Broker, Carrier (VOCs, NVOCCs), or Surety views. Importers can download in PDF or Excel, depending on the type of report they received by email, while others are able to download their reports in PDF and Excel formats. The notice also states that Cross Account Access can be provided.
In June 2011, the European Commission issued a Green Paper seeking comments by October 31, 2011 on how the European Union's system of export controls should be administered for dual-use goods (items that have both military and civilian uses).
The World Customs Organization states that Indian Customs has been in consultations with the private sector in preparation for its Authorized Economic Operator program (a program for trusted traders similar to C-TPAT), and a pilot project has been scheduled to launch later this year. This development follows the recent opening of a National Operation Center established to support the information system and therefore enable better data and risk management. Additionally, Indian Customs has stressed its commitment to promoting Globally Networked Customs (GNC) to facilitate AEO-related information, and this latest development will pave the way for Mutual Recognition of AEO with other countries, the ultimate benefit of the AEO program.