Dear
Friend,
You
may be receiving this email letter, and yet not involved
with this aspect of trade. Instead you may
be responsible for an area such as customs importations or
something else completely different. What I want to say is, "please
don't delete it right now,
until you forward this newsletter to a friend, or
another member of your company". Just click
here
and enter their name and email
address. There will be another similar letter arriving in
your email very soon that will be focused more on U.S.
Customs Importation issues.
As a
C-TPAT Certified company or a "want-to-be" C-TPAT
Certified company, let's
review a few of your C-TPAT responsibilities.
The included articles are particularly relevant and are
highlighted for those of you who expect to maintain your C-TPAT
status, either following your normal C-TPAT Validation or an
unfortunate security breach that requires U.S.
Customs & Border Protection (CBP) to evaluate your C-TPAT
compliance status. As a professional Supply Chain Security
Advisor, the most relevant advice is...Don't take chances with C-TPAT!
Instead, make certain that everything your company has
committed to do as a C-TPAT company, is done timely and documented
as being done.
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 One
of the new requirements for all C-TPAT companies is to annually
complete a Risk Assessment of the company's supply chains. CBP has even
provided instructions and a guide, the C-TPAT 5-Step Risk
Assessment Process Guide,
which provides guidelines for performing and documenting the
C-TPAT Risk Assessment. The Risk Assessment
Process includes:
- Mapping the cargo flow and
identifying business partners
- Conducting a Threat Assessment
- Conducting a Vulnerability
Assessment in accordance with the Minimum Security Criteria
- Preparing an Action Plan
- Written documentation of the
Risk Assessment Process
The Risk Assessment must be
completed and uploaded to the Web Portal prior to beginning
the C-TPAT Validation Process. Contact Dann Sherman
Trade Solutions to
obtain experienced & knowledgeable support for your annual
C-TPAT Risk Assessment.
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Screening
Your Business Partners
 Remember when you first
became a Certified C-TPAT member? One of the Minimum Security
Criteria that you agreed to--having a documented
procedure that your company uses to screen its business
partners (i.e. customers--direct & indirect--carriers, service
providers, suppliers, logistics providers, brokers, etc)
is not being complied with at a very high rate,
according to the latest C-TPAT 2010 Partner
Survey Results that
were recently published. Please take note: My experience in
assisting companies with their C-TPAT Validations is that CBP
Supply Chain Specialists are focusing very much on your
company's evidence of
how you screen your Business Partners and how you have
demonstrated evidence of screening and evaluating
your Business Partners. Don't
let this reminder pass you by! Make sure you have a
documented procedure and you have evidence that you are doing
it.
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Don't Take Your C-TPAT Status for Granted
 The
C-TPAT 2010 Partner Survey Results indicate that more
than 25% of the respondents are not satisfied with the
benefits that go along with being a C-TPAT partner. This
finding may explain why so many C-TPAT companies fail to do
what they committed to do when they applied to become a C-TPAT
partner. In a sense, many C-TPAT partners have lost their
confidence that C-TPAT membership is beneficial for them.
But, consider this: losing your C-TPAT partnership
benefits through a security breach or lack of C-TPAT compliance
will be devastating to your company and it will be very difficult
to remain and/or regain your C-TPAT partner certification and
benefits. Therefore, documentation, evidence, or evidencia
(to those Spanish speaking C-TPAT partners) of meeting
the C-TPAT Minimum Security Criteria is absolutely
critical for ensuring long term and continued C-TPAT Partnership
status. Contact  for
more details.
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 Thanks
for reading the information about improving your C-TPAT Supply
Chain Security compliancy that's
in this letter. Remember to contact Dann Sherman
Trade Solutions when you or someone you know needs a
professional to advise, support, and provide customs and
supply chain security compliance information.
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Dann
Sherman
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