Six years right into the Customs-Trade Partnership Versus Terrorism (C-TPAT) protection program, presented by the Customs Border and Protection Agency as a volunteer trade protection campaign to protect the global supply chain, it’s fair to ask if the program is still “voluntary.”

Billed as the biggest partnership ever introduced in between industry as well as government, the program remains to expand and include teeth to its mission to determine and deal with vulnerabilities within the global supply chain that might be leveraged for terrorist functions, such as the compromise of containers, vehicles, railcars, and trailers incoming to the US. In 2005, minimal demands were developed by CBP based on techniques that appeared to be widespread throughout the trading community of companies who sent their applications pre-2005. In 2006, the SECURE Port Act codified the C-TPAT program, as well as the recently released Import security, which will consist of a voluntary, in most instances, a safety certification process that will possibly be integrated into the C-TPAT accreditation program.

C-TPAT has actually been deliberately developed as a voluntary program. The general reason is CBP’s recognition that a personal safety and security program will not match all companies; one glove does not fit all hands. Each company is different based on its item as well as the sector. Additionally, it has been the viewpoint of CBP that a consumer has higher power than promulgated regulation to implement safety standards in its supply chain, namely service providers, as well as suppliers, making it extra reliable overall. The program intends to push the C-TPAT protection standards down throughout the supply chain. This includes, but is not limited to, custom-made brokers, all carriers, freight forwarders, and vendors. But as C-TPAT includes new policies as well as treatments, it becomes less volunteer as well as an extra requirement.

If you want to find a C-TPAT consultant [ที่ปรึกษา C-TPAT, which is the term in Thai], you can visit the given link.