Highlights of CBP's January 2005 Trade Symposium (Part I)

This is Part I of a multi-part series of summaries on CBP's Trade Symposium and provides a broad overview of the symposium, including topics addressed, etc. (See ITT's Online Archives or 10/22/04 news, 04102210, for BP summary on CBP's announcement of its January 2005 Trade Symposium.)

CBP's Trade Symposium focused on trade security more than trade facilitation. Although the theme of CBP's Trade Symposium was "Security and Facilitation of Trade: the Way Forward," almost all of the symposium panels focused on security issues. Various CBP speakers noted that they viewed the Trade Symposium as a continuation of the discussion CBP began with the trade community at the Homeland Security Cargo Summit hosted by the Homeland Security Institute on December 16-17, 2004. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/26/05 news, 05012610, for BP summary of an executive summary of comments received on DHS' draft national cargo security strategic paper, which was distributed at the Trade Symposium.)

CBP's Trade Symposium consisted of the following six panels. Each of these panels had one or more "scene setters" (a government official who generally outlined the issues to be discussed) and representatives from the trade community and various U.S. government agencies (e.g., CBP, Coast Guard, etc.).

U.S. Cargo Security Strategy. During this panel, officials discussed the various aspects of U.S. cargo security strategy, including the Trade Act of 2002, the Container Security Initiative (CSI), the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), and automated risk targeting. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/18/05 news, 05011805, for previous BP summary of CBP's announcement of its CSI expansion plans at the Trade Symposium.)

Officials also discussed the use of high security mechanical seals on all inbound maritime containers, contingency planning for recovery after a terrorist incident, CBP's Advance Trade Data Initiative (ATDI), and ACE/ITDS.

Global Supply Chain Security. During this panel, CBP officials outlined the components of a supply chain, compared and contrasted the supply chain in terms of pre-9/11 and post-9/11, and provided CBP's vision for the future of supply chain security, which consists of the following: ATDI, single ACE/ITDS window, improved targeting, common terminology/common data elements, Smart Box, CSI expansion, moving C-TPAT to the next level, internationalizing supply chain security, and contingency planning for continuation of trade.

Internationalizing the Security Strategy. During this panel, World Customs Organization (WCO) Secretary General Michel Danet outlined WCO efforts to internationalize core security standards throughout the global trade system.

Danet outlined the WCO's four basic supply chain security principles - prior transmission of data, systematic risk analysis, use of new technologies, and granting participating companies various benefits - and noted that the WCO needs to build pilot projects to test these principles.

(See ITT's Online Archives or 12/14/04 news, 04121405, for BP summary of the WCO's endorsement of a Framework of Standards to secure and facilitate global trade.)

Open Forum with CBP senior managers. During this forum, various CBP senior managers outlined what they considered to be the biggest challenges in the next year. These issues include (partial list):

• Expansion of the electronic rulings program
• Update of Informed Compliance Publications
• Regulatory work resulting from the merger of agencies within DHS
• Ensuring uniformity with 317 ports of entry
• Internationalizing U.S. cargo security efforts

Contingency Plans for Incident Response. In this panel discussion, CBP and trade community representatives discussed implementing a comprehensive security strategy as the first step to prevent attacks by terrorists. Viable contingency plans, if an incident does occur, so that trade can resume without a prolonged shutdown of U.S. ports and a de facto shutdown of the U.S. economy were also discussed.

During the discussion, both CBP and trade representatives emphasized the need to avoid a total shutdown after an incident and discussed various issues, including: moving freight to alternate locations, coordination between various government agencies, communication between CBP and the trade, etc.

Automated Commercial Environment (ACE)/International Trade Data System (ITDS). This panel discussion dealt with the latest capabilities and benefits of ACE, including the recent deployment of Release 4 (which was subsequently halted) and upcoming ACE developments. (See ITT's Online Archives or 01/05/05 news, 05010505, for BP summary on the shutdown of the ACE Release 4 Truck Manifest pilot in Blaine, WA.)

See future issues of ITT for more detailed summaries on selected aspects of CBP's Trade Symposium.