CBP Pressing MRA Partners to Give Promised Benefits to C-TPAT Members

BALTIMORE -- CBP is pressing the countries that have signed customs mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) with the U.S. to keep up their end of the bargain by providing agreed-upon benefits to members of the Customs-Trade Partnership against Terrorism, said Todd Owen, assistant commissioner of CBP’s Office of Field Operations. So far, the 10 countries that have currently signed MRAs are not delivering on their guarantees, so CBP is meeting with their customs agencies on a “senior level” to “reopen dialogue on promises that were made,” said Owen, speaking during CBP’s East Coast Trade Symposium on Nov. 4.

Dating back to 2007, CBP has signed MRAs with New Zealand, Canada, Jordan, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, Taiwan, and most recently in 2014 with Israel, Mexico and Singapore. Each promised benefits to members of the CBP’s C-TPAT program on shipments from program members either entering or exiting their countries, said Owen. CBP, and C-TPAT members, have yet to see any real benefit, he said.

In an attempt to hold these countries to their word, CBP has assigned each of its C-TPAT field offices and supervisors to engage one of these 10 countries and “say where are the benefits owed to U.S. companies that are part of C-TPAT?” said Owen. CBP will also focus on unfulfilled promises related to validations, where customs officials from the 10 MRA partners were to perform validations on C-TPAT members, saving some legwork by CBP supply chain specialists and reducing duplication of efforts.

Some of the unfulfilled promise of C-TPAT internationally also has to do with the structure of the program, which CBP is working to remedy through its Trusted Trader pilot, said Owen. Though C-TPAT only includes supply chain security components, most authorized economic operators (AEO) programs worldwide include both supply chain security and trade compliance components. A real exchange of benefits is difficult unless the programs match up, said Owen. By combining C-TPAT with trade compliance, Trusted Trader makes that possible.

Though initially drafted as a combination of C-TPAT and CBP’s Importer Self-Assessment, CBP has since rethought its “rigid” approach in the face of hesitance from the trade community, said Owen. The agency has realized that the onerous audit process of ISA is not necessary to recognize trusted partners from a trade compliance perspective, he said. There are other ways CBP can recognize trusted traders “have strong internal controls, and that they can be considered a trusted partner for revenue as well as security,” said Owen. Now participating in CBP’s Trusted Trader pilot are eight companies that are C-TPAT members but not part of ISA, with their trade compliance review carried out by a national account manager, rather than a regulatory auditor, he said. The agency also has a team meeting with their EU counterparts “this week” on how the EU measures trade compliance for its own AEO program, said Owen.