Question: We are an EU-based multinational company that works with CMOs/Suppliers/Freight forwarders/3PLs that are already either CTPAT or AEO (mutual recognition program for the EU) certified. What is Customs’ expectation for the CTPAT application? Do we need to have a complete questionnaire for those members, or instead we could provide their certification number explaining what […]
Question: We are preparing our Imports CTPAT application in the Customs portal and noticed that part of the minimum-security criteria mentions needing to be ‘documented’. For those members that have gone through this process and worked with their assigned Customs officer, what is the expectation? Do we must have SOPs in place before applying, or […]
Question: We are preparing to be CTPAT certified and completing the questionnaire, we found in the CTPAT manual that the questions marked as SHOULD need to be answered with a N/A plus an explication of why it does not apply. When we started working on the project, we hired consultants who advised that we did […]
Question: I am looking to understand what others in the industry are currently doing to meet the MSC for annual employee training. Is your training covering all employees or only specific departments? If you are a retailer are you training your stores? Answer 1: All employees must be trained annually on CTPAT security within the […]
Question: We are a large company with multiple IOR numbers and many different US locations – warehouses, office buildings, distribution centers, etc. Imports to our locations may be under multiple IORs, and IORs may import to multiple locations. I’m new but I understand that CTPAT certification is done by IOR. What is “in scope” for […]
QUESTION: Some of our locations are asking how to define what cargo is considered high value or high risk for CTPAT, and I haven’t been able to find any definition for this in the CTPAT documentation. Does the membership have any (government) resources on this or can anyone share how they define it? ========== Answers: […]
QUESTION: My company has Tier 3 CTPAT status but is questioning the benefit vs effort. How does one go about “dropping” down to Tier 2, and would that put our program under increased scrutiny by CBP? Our leadership is looking for a clear distinction between Tier 2 and Tier 3 requirements, but I do not […]
QUESTION: Does anyone have experience with vendor C-TPAT surveys? If so, how did you format / style it and which manner were questions asked? Looking to send our vendors an innovative and easy C-TPAT survey. ========== Answer: There are a number of examples of these on-line. Have you “googled” “c-tpat vendor security questionnaire”? Are you […]
QUESTION: Has anyone that has withdrawn from CTPAT and/or PIP had any issues they did not anticipate? Additionally, my main concerns are below, has anyone had issues around these areas? Shipments to or from Mexico No longer being able to use FAST lanes for US and CA Customer and carrier reactions %%%%%%%%%% ANSWER: CTPAT on the […]
QUESTION: In my previous life, I managed CTPAT Tier III and Importer Self-Assessment (ISA) for my company. At the time, Trusted Trade was just developing. I cannot find anything about the Trusted Trader program on cbp.gov. I recall that it was going to be rolled into CTPAT and be part of the Portal, instead of […]
QUESTION: We are currently enrolled in the CTPAT and CTPAT TC (ISA) programs. My company is wondering if any companies are thinking about leaving the CTPAT and CTPAT TC (ISA) programs due to not receiving any benefits. Did anyone receive any heartaches when leaving both of these programs? Did Customs show up for an audit at your business after leaving these […]
QUESTION: Our company has security seal procedures in place that have been approved on annual security reviews and want to consider improvements. We are interested to know what ICPA members are doing to meet this requirement, especially to address when seals have been changed. Are they using any software programs ? What internal reports are […]
