(Journal of Commerce)
The Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism will remain the fundamentally voluntary program it has been since its inception, though specific elements such as container seals may be made mandatory, a senior
Department of Homeland Security official said this week.
"The idea is that as C-TPAT evolves there may be certain measures that get pulled out as far as minimum security baseline, for example, a requirement
to seal inbound containers, said Elaine Dezenski, deputy assistant secretary for policy and planning at the Border and Transportation Security Directorate of DHS.
C-TPAT, launched in Nov. 2001, has enlisted some
7,000 private sector companies and organizations in a voluntary effort to secure their international supply chains as an incentive to achieve low-risk status for their cargo at the border.
It is not a regulation
and as such has not been posted in the Federal Register. That basic approach will not change though regulations may be promulgated to address certain specific issues, Dezenski said.
"C-TPAT serves as a test
bed, and we use voluntary incentives to get people to adopt certain things, but we also need to be looking at developing a baseline of minimum requirements through regulation," she said.
One such
regulation, first discussed at the Maritime Security Expo in New York in September, would involve the use of non-electronic container seals and a verification system for all incoming marine containers.
"Based on the COAC advice and our own internal review and analysis, we're looking at making [seals] a requirement across the industry -- so that is the best example, where something might move from voluntary to
mandatory," she said, referring to the private sector Commercial Operations Advisory Committee that advises DHS.
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