U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted to its Web site Jan. 31 a document outlining the following achievements in 2007 under the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism.
• Supply chain security specialists visited manufacturing and logistics facilities in 79 countries, representing some of the most terrorist prone and high-risk areas of the world.
• CBP validated 3,011 supply chains, a 27 percent increase from 2006. More than 6,900 validations have been completed since 2003.
• Of the 3,011 validations, 601 (20 percent) were revalidations. 2007 marked the first year that CBP began re-verifying supply chains.
• 2,601 new C-TPAT members were certified in accordance with SAFE Port Act requirements.
• C-TPAT Tier III status was granted to 17 companies as a result of the validation process.
• CBP suspended or removed 112 companies from C-TPAT for security breaches or failure to meet minimum security criteria, as revealed in the validation process. Of these, 47 were either conditionally or fully reinstated after they demonstrated that immediate and sustained corrective action had been taken.
• CBP made progress on additional SAFE Port Act mandates, including the development of a third-party validation pilot program.
• Minimum security criteria were issued for Mexican long-haul carriers, U.S. and foreign-based marine port authority and terminal operators, foreign manufacturers and air carriers. These criteria were developed in close consultation with the trade community and other U.S. agencies where appropriate.
• CBP signed a mutual recognition agreement with New Zealand’s Customs Service and established work plans with several other countries to achieve similar arrangements.
• A survey of C-TPAT members showed that the program has moved thousands of companies to further scrutinize the security of goods they handle and ensure that their overseas suppliers have implemented sound security practices. CBP plans to undertake additional studies of this sort in the future to assess the program’s effectiveness.
World Trade/Interactive
