New CTPAT requirements to be rolled out in May or later

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is still working with its Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee in finalizing new requirements for the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.    U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) won’t announce new requirements for the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) until May or later, as that agency continues working with its Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) to “socialize” updated criteria with the trade community, according to a COAC document posted before the advisory committee met this week.
   CBP and the trade community have agreed to “socialize the proposed requirements with a wider audience” for “at least a three-month period,” according to the COAC Trusted Trader Subcommittee document posted to CBP’s website before the COAC convened for its quarterly meeting in Miami on Wednesday.
   However, “at this point,” the criteria are “not ready to be released to the trade community at large,” according to the document.
   CTPAT is in the process of finalizing a plan for implementation, to be rolled out in a “phased approach” starting in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, the document says.
   CBP CTPAT Director Elizabeth Schmelzinger last year indicated that CBP is working to transition importer security assessment participants into a revamped CTPAT by the end of fiscal 2018.
   Currently, CBP is in a phase of its Trusted Trader pilot that involves a CBP-compiled catalog of various proposed CTPAT operational benefits, CBP Office of Field Operations Cargo and Conveyance Security Executive Director Thomas Overacker said during the meeting.
   “We all know the best benefit of all is releasing your cargo quickly, but there’s only so much juice we can squeeze from that lemon,” he said.
   The new “CTPAT Trade Compliance” program, as Overacker termed it, will be a comprehensive program that will allow U.S. traders to “achieve global recognition as an authorized economic operator program,” he said.
   The COAC subcommittee document says that a COAC working group has discussed various issues for incorporation into a revamped CTPAT, including:
     • Security measures to counter agricultural pests and diseases;
     • Cybersecurity issues;
     • Non-IT security technology;
     • Prevention of money laundering and terror financing;
     • High security seals and highway carrier issues;
     • And security management and administration.