At a March 15 meeting with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Alan Bersin, USCIB presented a provisional list of 18 benefits envisioned for participants in CBP’s trusted trader program, the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). In April, Commissioner Bersin shared his goal of quadrupling C-TPAT membership over the next five to seven years with the trade community at the 2011 CBP Trade Symposium. The following day, at a joint meeting with the ICC Committee on Customs and Trade Regulations, the USCIB Customs Committee concluded that USCIB could help Commissioner Bersin meet this goal by finalizing its provisional list of C-TPAT benefits.
With the support of the American Association of Exporters and Importers (AAEI), USCIB has provided a final list of eighteen C-TPAT benefits to Commissioner Bersin. In a May 17 joint letter, USCIB and AAEI encouraged CBP to strengthen C-TPAT, to focus its core benefits on the pre-trade and post-trade events of the supply chain, and to develop substantial commercial benefits for Tier 2 and Tier 3 C-TPAT participants.
