CBP posted its new Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Portal User Manual to its website Aug. 25. “This Manual explains the basic maneuverability throughout the portal to be able to have an accurate and complete CTPAT application,” CBP said. It also will enable partners in the program to “take advantage of CTPAT and foreign AEO cargo facilitation benefits.”
A set of minimum security criteria related to wood packaging materials and pest prevention have been “one of the highest” areas of non-compliance for Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism members validated in 2022, CBP said in a CTPAT bulletin released Aug. 24. The agency highlighted section 8.1 of the CTPAT minimum security criteria, which requires written procedures to prevent pest contamination, including compliance with wood packaging materials regulations; measures that meet international standards for wood packaging material; and visible pest prevention measures adhered to throughout the supply chain.
The Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) for CBP will next meet remotely Sept. 14, CBP said in a notice. Comments are due in writing by Sept. 9.
New forced labor requirements for Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) members may change the calculus for determining whether participation is worth it, said Sidley Austin lawyer Ted Murphy, in an Aug. 22 note. He reminded companies that if the shifting requirements become more costly than participation is worth, they can leave the program.
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CBP posted its Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism Trade Compliance handbook on July 28. "This handbook provides an overview of the major changes and improved industry benefits that have led to the modernization of CTPAT’s Trade Compliance program and detailed instructions for applying and maintaining partnership," CTPAT Director Manuel Garza said.
CBP is making progress on its new vessel entrance and clearing system (VECS) and hopes to release a pilot program “later this year,” said Brian Sale, CBP’s branch chief for vessel operations. The agency will release a Federal Register notice this week announcing a new Vessel Agency Account type within the Automated Commercial Environment, Sale said, which will allow users to eventually participate in the pilot.
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CBP should not require “comprehensive supply chain mapping” as part of its requirements for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism forced labor component, and should update the requirements so that mapping is done via a risk-based approach, said Kerry Novak, who sits on the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee’s Secure Trade Lanes Subcommittee, in recommendations she read at the COAC’s June 29 meeting.
Final recommendations of the 21st Century Customs Framework Modernization task force include mandatory partner government agency trusted trader programs under the CTPAT framework and authorization to reduce the merchandise processing fee (MPF) for CTPAT members, among other things, according to a document released in advance of a vote on the recommendations at the June 29 meeting of the Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee.