("American Shipper")
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has completed its second draft of revised security standards for importers participating in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism trusted shipper program, and
is circulating the proposed rules among customs compliance managers at 16 major corporations for feedback.
The new standards maintain C-TPAT as a voluntary program, but are more direct. in spelling out security
measures that importers and their foreign suppliers are expected to take in exchange for reduced levels of inspection and eligibility for certain automated customs payment programs.
The new C-TPAT draft, obtained
by Shippers NewsWire, move[s] away from characterizing the measures as "minimum standards".., and instead says importers should apply various prescriptions as needed to correct security gaps based on an
assessment of their risk..
"Importers shall have a documented and verifiable process for determining risk throughout their supply chains based on their business model," the draft said. Risk may vary for
companies based on trade volumes, country of origin, transportation route and an assessment of the potential terrorist threat based on public documents and media reports.
The other primary change from the
previous draft is that C-TPAT importers are required to obtain written documentation indicating whether or not their ocean carriers, terminal operators, brokers and consolidators with whom they contract for
transportation service are C-TPAT certified themselves.
The draft standards cover requirements for selecting service providers, container security, physical access controls, personnel, document compliance,
security training and information technology protections. As in the original version, importers are required to have procedures to make sure containers are packed without tampering followed by locking with a
high-security mechanical seal and in-transit seal verification checks.
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