C-TPAT Year in Review

Customs and Border Protection has published a 2008 year in review of its Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program.  Here are some interesting 2008 statistics:

  • Certified 1,448 new members
  • Validated 3,469 supply chains
  • Added 50 supply chain specialists
  • Suspended 121 members
  • Removed 118 members
  • Completed 52 appeals (26 denied, 18 approved, 8 reduced suspensions

For those of you who may not know, C-TPAT is a voluntary program under which members agree to undertake reasonable steps to secure their supply chain from container stuffing to delivery to the ultimate consignee.  The program requires considerations of physical security to the merchandise, plant location security, network access security, and personnel policies including background checks at hiring and appropriate measures when an employee leaves.

The benefits of membership include fewer intensive examinations at the time of entry and the possible participation in the Importer Self Assessment program.

And, as they say, that's it in a nutshell.  If this is new to you, visit here.

Comments

Lyes Sadoudi said…
As a C-TPAT Consultant based in San Diego, I believe that C-TPAT would have a better impact on the security of the supply chain if US Customs modifies its review process and validates companies immediately after the certification. It is certainly a question of resources but can you put a price on the security of this country?
Mar 6, 2009, 2:22:00 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CAFC Decision in Double Invoicing Case

The Federal Circuit has issued a decision on the merits in United States v. Inn Foods, Inc.  There had been a previous decision on jurisdiction, which was followed by a trial at the Court of International Trade and then this appeal on the substance. The initial issue is whether Inn Foods' invoicing practice amounts to fraud.  Inn Foods had been receiving an invoice from growers in Mexico that had a relatively low sales prices on it.  Subsequent to entry, Inn Foods created a second invoice at something more similar to market value, retaining the original invoice number, and paid at that higher amount.   Superficially, this looks like a standard-issue double-invoicing scheme.  But, in the age of reconciliation, is it really more like a provisional pricing mechanism?  It might have been possible to make that argument had Inn Foods adjusted its entries accordingly.  It didn't and the loss of revenue was approximately $624,000.  Based on testimony and evidence indicating both knowl
Read more

Ninestar and UFLPA Exhaustion

Image
Exhaustion is a key doctrine in administrative law. When applicable, it requires that a party unhappy with an agency’s determination complete the administrative appeal process before turning to the courts for judicial review. Requiring exhaustion typically promotes judicial efficiency by ensuring that disputes are resolved at the agency and, if they are not, that there is a complete record of the agency process. Exhaustion also ensures that the judiciary respects the executive agencies and their expertise.  There are, on the other hand, times when the courts will find that exhaustion is not necessary or appropriate. Such is the case in  Ninestar Corporation et al. v. United States  et al., a decision of the U.S. Court of International Trade.  Ninestar is also interesting because it is one of the first cases in the CIT involving the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, known as UFLPA. In my hiatus from active blogging, I missed the rise of UFLPA as a major compliance topic. So, let's
Read more

Precious Tritium

Image
One thing I have learned as a customs lawyer who does a lot of classification work is that there are millions of odd items moving in international trade the existence of which I am completely ignorant. Such is the case of the gaseous tritium light sources used in, among other things, firearm sights. These things use tritium sealed in a glass that has been coated in phosphor. The radioactive tritium decays, releasing beta particles, which interact with the phosphor causing it to emit light. In other words, it creates light with no external power source. Pretty cool.  Tritium is, of course, a real thing. It is an isotope of hydrogen. We know this from the excellent documentary "Spider-Man." This comes up in relation to the Court of International Trade decision in Trijicon, Inc. v. United States  in which the importer challenged the tariff classification of several versions of the gaseous tritium light sources ("GTLS"). The plaintiff uses them to make gun sights. The
Read more