New ISO 17712:2010 High Security Seal Standard
Effective March 1, 2012, the current International Organization for Standardization (ISO) mechanical seal standard (ISO/PAS 17712) will be replaced with a new ISO standard--ISO 17712:2010. According to C-TPAT, companies are not expected to discard seals currently in stock. However, after companies have exhausted their current stock of high security seals, it is recommended by CBP that companies purchase seals, which are compliant with the new ISO 17712:2010 standard.
The new standard compliance requirements:
Testing to determine a seal’s classification for physical strength (as a barrier of entry).
Process auditing of the manufacturer’s security-related business practices.
Testing (pass/fail) of a seal’s ability to indicate evidence of tampering.
A new 18mm minimum width diameter for bolt seals.
Reduced possibility of cargo theft or tampering.
Reduced possibility of unauthorized material being inserted into containers or other instruments of international traffic (IIT).
Reducing shipping delays that result when seals are missing or broken.
When inspecting seals for signs of tampering, tamper-evident seals should allow personnel, with the appropriate training, to detect compromised seals easier.
Prior to purchasing new high security seals, request documentation (a lab report) from the seal vendor confirming that the seals are ISO 17712:2010 compliant.
Third Generation of the ISO 17712
The ISO 17712:2010 standard was first published in September 2010 and included an 18-month transition period (to March 2012) to deal with technical issues. The new standard is the third generation of 17712. The first was a Publically Available Specification (PAS) published in 2003 and the second was a revision to PAS 17712 published in 2006. Each revision builds on previous requirements.
White House Unveils Global Supply Chain Security Plan
Today, with the announcement of the National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security, we take an important step to strengthen and protect this vital system. The Strategy, focused on the worldwide network of transportation, postal, and shipping assets and supporting infrastructures, articulates our national vision and approach, and encourages collaborative implementation with key State, local, tribal, territorial, private sector and international stakeholders.
This Strategy provides an integrated United States Government perspective on a complex and global issue. It recognizes that we can and must promote security and efficiency in the supply chain system rather than seek to “balance” them as mutually exclusive ends. It emphasizes our need to foster a resilient system that can absorb shocks and recover rapidly from disruptions. And it endorses an overall approach that involves integrating efforts to manage risk, leverage a layered defense, and identify and resolve threats as early as possible.
As much of the global supply chain is owned and operated by entities outside of the United States Government, the success of this strategy will depend upon our ability to work with other stakeholders. We are committed to working in coordination with industry partners, the international community, and others around the globe to translate this strategic vision into concrete action. Ata time when budgets are constrained, we will seek to develop smarter solutions and new efficiencies by enhancing our information sharing procedures and capabilities, synchronizing standards and procedures, prioritizing and aligning activities according to risk management principles, and leveraging the expertise and resources of industry and foreign partners in pursuit of our shared interests.
U.S. Trusted Shipper Program Reciprocated by Mexico to Increase U.S.-Mexican Trade
Mexico City, December 15, 2011 — U.S. Ambassador Anthony Wayne joined Secretary of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) José Antonio Meade Kuribrena and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin today at the inauguration of Mexico’s trusted shipper program, which expedites border crossings for U.S. commercial shipments into Mexico just as Mexican commercial shipments enjoy expedited crossings into the U.S.
“Thanks to this program,” Secretary Meade said, “moving goods across the border will be easier and faster, shipments will be better protected, and import export times will improve, thus increasing the level of competitiveness of participating companies, and along with that, the competitiveness and logistics capacity of the country.”
“The creation of the NEEC program in Mexico is an important step towards ensuring the flow of commerce and visitors between our countries,” said CBP Commissioner Bersin. “It demonstrates how SAT and CBP can work with industry to both improve security and facilitate commerce.”
“The Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program implemented by the United States to allow quicker access for Mexican goods into the U.S. market has played an important role in boosting trade between our two countries,” Ambassador Wayne said. “I congratulate Mexico on this reciprocal program, which will further strengthen the economic ties and economic security of our two nations.”
The C-TPAT program is a clearance program for low risk shipments entering the United States from Canada and Mexico that facilitates expedited processing for commercial carriers at various U.S. land border ports. Key benefits of C-TPAT enrollment include access to dedicated lanes, a reduced number of inspections, and reduced delays at the border. Mexico’s Nuevo Esquema de Empresas Certificadas (NEEC) reciprocates this program for U.S. shippers.
The United States and New Zealand Sign Joint Statement on Global Supply Chain Security
(Department of Homeland Security)
WASHINGTON — Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today joined New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully to sign a joint statement on global supply chain security cooperation — further strengthening ongoing collaboration between the United States and New Zealand to promote economic prosperity and make the global supply chain system stronger, smarter and more resilient.
"New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region play an increasingly prominent role in our global commerce and within the global supply chain," said Secretary Napolitano. "This joint statement allows the United States and New Zealand to build upon our existing efforts to enhance international supply chain security and paves the way for future collaboration between our nations."
During today's meeting, Secretary Napolitano and Minister McCully reiterated their commitment to pursuing global supply chain security initiatives designed to prevent terrorists from exploiting the global supply chain to plan and execute attacks; protect the most critical elements of the supply chain system, such as transportation hubs and related critical infrastructure, from attacks and disruptions; and build the resilience of the global supply chain to ensure that if something does happen, the supply chain can recover quickly.
Currently, through Project Global Shield—launched by DHS, the World Customs Organization, INTERPOL, and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime in 2010—New Zealand joins the more than 60 participating nations that share information with each other to ensure that chemicals entering their countries are being used in safe and legal ways, leading to successful interdictions of a number of suspicious shipments and providing promising investigative leads on the smuggling of precursor chemicals into Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In January, Secretary Napolitano joined World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya to announce a new collaboration between DHS and the WCO to enlist other nations, international bodies and the private sector in increasing the security of the global supply chain.
Bersin: C-TPAT Strategy Involves Doing More with Less
(American Shipper)
U.S. Customs intends to significantly expand the number of companies in its voluntary supply chain security program, and monitor and process the new enrollees, on a smaller budget than in years past, Commissioner Alan Bersin said in an interview Tuesday.
At last week’s annual Trade Symposium, the nation’s top border management official set a goal of increasing membership in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism from 10,000 to 40,000 companies within five to seven years.
But the White House’s 2012 budget request submitted to Congress earlier this year says Customs and Border Protection only needs $45 million to manage the program -- about $18 million less than appropriated in fiscal years 2010 and 2011. Officials say the program has matured and that initial expenses for facility acquisition, information technology and additional personnel do not need to be covered on a recurring basis.
Bersin, who is moving on several fronts to enhance the agency’s effectiveness and role as a commercial facilitator, suggested that giving the private sector more responsibility for checking the trustworthiness of C-TPAT applicants would allow CBP to scale up the program with existing resources.
“We should not project straight line that it takes this many people to attract this many partners and to administer the program,” Bersin said during a lengthy interview in his office.
“I think we’ve reached a different point in the evolution of the program where … we would rely on many of our existing partners to bring in others in their supply chains and do it in ways that would not require the manpower intensive work that the initial certification would achieve,” he added, referring to follow-up revalidations that CBP conducts every three years in most cases.
There are about 200 personnel in the C-TPAT program, with funding for 207 positions, according to budget documents.
Bersin’s position dovetails with recent comments expressing interest in having customs brokers encourage customers that import goods, especially small businesses, to join C-TPAT and then vet their security plans on behalf of CBP.
“It’s not to say that we would not have serious standards and rely very heavily on validations. But how those validations were done and who did them are issues that we would expect to be taking up with the private sector,” Bersin said.
During a Trade Symposium town hall Bersin referred to deputizing private firms as a force multiplier and said CBP can share more information with certified shippers about potential threats and vulnerabilities in the supply chain.
“One of the changes we have to make … is actually bring the private sector into the process, be willing to share information,” he said, noting that if the U.S. military can have private contractors working in war zones, CBP should be able to collaborate with companies on supply chain security.
“CBP is in a position to do it since we deal with top secret, classified intelligence all the time. Most of the information we deal with is neither top secret or classified, even though some of it is classified as such,” Bersin said.
Customs needs to “be willing to have you collocated and embedded in the manner in which the Marines, the Air Force, the Navy invited the public to be embedded in a much more dangerous and risky enterprise.
“We can work through that and I think get to the point where we can implement what we know now, which is we can’t secure the supply chain without calling on those of you who know the supply chain a lot better than we know it away from the American homeland,” he said.
Under C-TPAT, CBP extends expedited import clearance to companies that have approved procedures for maintaining control of shipments at origin and in transit to prevent criminals or terrorists from compromising an ocean container or truck.
The agency says C-TPAT importers are four to six times less likely to incur a security or compliance examination because they are scored lower in its automated targeting system. Other stated benefits are front-of-the-line privileges, when possible, for cargo that is targeted for inspection, stratifying containers in a multiline entry so that those not being held for the compliance exam are quickly released to the custody of the shipper and eligibility for other partnership programs.
CBP inspects about 3 percent of ocean containers and a quarter of the 11.l3 million trucks entering the country.
Agency officials spoke at the Trade Symposium about how they intend to multiply the C-TPAT population and advance their strategy of segmenting traffic by risk, which is designed to reduce the pool of suspicious or unknown shipments for inspectors to focus on.
C-TPAT Director Bradd Skinner said his office would encourage existing C-TPAT members to talk to more of their business partners about the advantages of joining the program. Surveys conducted by CBP show indirect benefits to participation in the trusted shipper program include reduced cargo theft and pilferage, improved predictability moving goods across the border and reduced insurance rates.
One of the agency’s goals listed in its budget proposal is to reach out to any Top 100 importers not already in C-TPAT and help overcome any factors preventing them from applying.
Expanding C-TPAT will also require intensified efforts to harmonize the program with similar authorized economic operator (AEO) programs in other countries so that overseas companies certified by other national authorities as having secure supply chain practices can be granted equivalent treatment as C-TPAT importers, said Kevin McAleenan, deputy assistant commissioner for field operations. To achieve so-called mutual recognition, however, CBP has to assess the other program’s rules for reviewing corporate security and how they are implemented.
McAleenan said C-TPAT would also become more meaningful to shippers if it can be synchronized with trusted shipper programs being considered or expanded by other U.S. government agencies.
Bersin has made inter-agency collaboration a major point of emphasis since taking office more than a year ago.
C-TPAT will also benefit from the Center of Excellence and Expertise demonstration project, McAleenan said. CEE is a small team created to develop expertise surrounding CBP regulation of the pharmaceutical industry and find ways to remove unnecessary impediments to cargo flows. CEE works closely with drug makers to understand their business operations and compliance processes, and provides guidance to ports of entry on ways to expedite processing for the industry’s highly controlled products.
Similarly, the effort to change over from processing every border transaction to managing regular importers on an account basis could contribute to C-TPAT’s allure, McAleenan said.
“We’ve always factored C-TPAT into our transactional analysis. But what the commissioner has challenged us to do is really look and make it an intentional discipline to try and work harder at segmenting the trade moving those people that we trust and know more about out of that transactional targeting focus.
“We know a lot more than the shipper, the address, the consignee, the contents of that shipment.
“We interact with you on the trade side. We might have had a regulatory audit interaction, a textile verification. You might be a member of the Importer Self-Assessment (program). We’ve got a supply chain validation through C-TPAT and we can connect all of that information to have our trusted partners not face the same impact.
“And as we look at that entire model, we can see the full end-to-end supply chain and identify additional opportunities to reach out and create new membership and make that membership very beneficial,” he said.
The approach now articulated by CBP signals a shift to expand C-TPAT beyond security to also be a quality-assurance program for trade compliance, more in line with World Customs Organization standards for AEOs to also demonstrate compliance with customs requirements and financial viability. More holistic AEO programs in the European Union, for example, provide trade and security benefits to highly compliant and security-conscious traders.