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Issue 5 Do you have a friend or colleague who would like to receive this eFlash, click here. |
Shippers who have a validated secure supply chain will be able to move their ocean containers through Customs faster. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commission Robert Bonner, as long cargo moves through a port that is part of the Container Security Initiative, and cargo is consigned to a validated Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism shipper, cargo will move via a "green lane" to clear cargo U.S. Customs without inspection in the near future.
Bonner said that shippers, carriers, forwarders and warehouses that implement strict "best practices" and undergo Customs verification of their supply chain security "will be part of a 'third tier'...whose benefits will be, in my mind, the green lane," Bonner said.
Shippers will earn green lane status, Bonner said, by instituting best practices, employing the use of a smart box container. Best practices will mean owning the secure supply chain and selecting C-TPAT-verified carriers and may well include as a best practice routing shipments through a CSI port.
Bonner said the three-tier system begins with an application for participation in C-TPAT that includes a written supply chain security plan. If the plan is approved by Customs, the business becomes certified.
Following certification, a company can expect Customs agents to validate the security plan including a check of compliance of the foreign components in the supply chain. Foreign suppliers must have limited access, on-duty security personnel, employment screening and proper paperwork. This second tier of validation will assure speedy passage through Customs, Bonner said, but will not earn inspection-free clearance.
Third-tier, green-lane shippers must also use smart containers equipped with anti-tamper technology when they become available. They must use carriers that are also Customs-validated and they must export from CSI ports.
Asked if there are any plans to help shippers offset the cost of increased security, travel and paper work, Bonner said, "No. The programs have their benefits that are translatable to dollars and cents. And if they can't see that, it is their problem not mine."
However, Bonner did say that in addition to green-lane clearance for the most secure shippers, all validated C-TPAT partners can expect uninterrupted commerce even if there is a terrorist attack on ports or other parts of the trade infrastructure.
"If you are not a member of C-TPAT, in times of crisis: good luck," Bonner said.
Bonner said that non-C-TPAT shippers are six times more likely to undergo a Customs security inspection at a U.S. port than members. And he added that because of advance notice rules and complex computer programs used for screening shippers, "I am certain that we examine 100 percent of the suspect containers entering the United States."
He said that of the 90,083 C-TPAT applicants, 5,020 are importers, 2,208 are carriers, 1412 are brokers and about 440 are foreign manufacturers.
Of that number, 10 percent have been validated with another 20 percent in the validation process; more than 100 companies have been rejected after failing their validation inspection, he said.
Bonner said that within two months Customs will post validated and certified C-TPAT partners on a secure, members-only Web site for those companies aiming for third-tier clearance or that wish to avoid companies not in the C-TPAT program.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has lifted an injunction issued by the Court of International Trade that prohibited the U.S. government from ruling on 12 threat-based China safeguard petitions filed by the U.S. textile industry in 2004.
The appeals court issued its stay one week before hearing oral arguments May 5 on the same injunction.
Judge Richard Goldberg of the Court of International Trade had issued the injunction Dec. 30, 2004, effectively blocking any implementation of threat-based China safeguards by the Bush administration through the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements (CITA).
The three-judge appellate panel disagreed with Goldberg on the issue of who would suffer irreparable harm if safeguards were imposed: apparel importers or the government.
“We find the injuries identified by the government sufficiently irreparable, substantial, and tied to the public interest,” the appeals court said.
The appellate panel ruled that, although claims asserted by the United States Association of Importers of Textile and Apparel (USA-ITA) were “likely to fail” on their merits, the lifting of the injunction would not bind “the ultimate resolution of this appeal.”
The stay of Goldberg’s injunction allows CITA to rule on safeguard petitions and issue restrictions covering U.S. imports of Chinese-made trousers, shirts and underwear in as little as one to six weeks.
©2005 FMI International