China opens door to more C-TPAT validations

China opens door to more C-TPAT validations    China's General Administration of Customs has agreed to allow U.S. Customs officers into the country this year to audit the supply chain security practices of 100 manufacturers or logistics providers involved in exporting goods to the United States, an agency official announced last week.
   Officials from the two border control organizations will sign an action plan May 9-10 in Washington to better align their trusted shipper programs so that participating companies face fewer hurdles moving cargo out of U.S. ports to their final destination, Charles Stallworth, acting assistant commissioner for international affairs at Customs and Border Protection, told delegates at the annual Trade Symposium in Washington.
   The first step of the agreement will allow CBP specialists to validate the shipping processes of 100 companies in China by the end of the year and conduct another 100 validations next year, he elaborated following a town hall session.
   U.S. importers that join the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism are eligible for a significant reduction in potential security inspections by implementing a security plan that meets or exceeds minimum criteria and demonstrating that their cargo poses a low risk of being infiltrated by smugglers. Other transportation intermediaries also join the program to satisfy their customers' needs to ensure security from origin to destination.

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   CBP conducts on-site security verifications at select facilities around the world that do business with C-TPAT importers, but China has been the most difficult country to access for reviews.
   There are at least 400 U.S. companies that have 75 percent of their products moving through supply chains originating in China that cannot achieve reduced scores in CBP's risk rating system and face greater likelihood of container X-ray inspections by CBP or foreign partners, according to Stallworth.
   In late 2008, CBP supply chain specialists in tandem with China Customs officials visited manufacturing facilities supplying 15 C-TPAT companies. The first round of joint validations occurred in March of that year. Even getting to that point took years of negotiation to gain permission for CBP teams to validate Chinese suppliers. In 2007, CBP tried a one-year experiment using third-party inspectors to get around the access issue and give importers who rely on China for the vast majority of their merchandise a chance to be reviewed and gain low-risk status for their containers. CBP pulled the plug on the trial due to lack of interest by shippers, who had to pay for the private-sector validations that normally are free.
   The action plan spells out steps implementing a memorandum of understanding signed by CBP and China Customs in Beijing last June to cooperate on supply chain security and trade efficiency.
   CBP has mutual recognition arrangements with New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Jordan and South Korea, but the agency is still working out operational arrangements in most cases that would allow domestic security reviews by a partner customs administration to be recognized as equivalent to CBP procedures, thereby reducing redundancy and overseas trips.
   New Zealand's export validation program is the only one that CBP has deemed fully compatible and to which it has extended reciprocal C-TPAT benefits.
   Other stated benefits of C-TPAT include access to the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program for expedited cargo processing at land borders and potential preferred treatment when ports reopen in the wake of any crisis. ' Eric Kulisch