CTPAT new forced labor compliance to yield new benefits

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has stated that following the new CTPAT Trade Compliance program standards regarding forced labor will result in three additional advantages.

The incentives for Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPT) participants, as stated by CBP, are given in exchange for compliance with the Trade Compliance Program’s recently amended forced labor rules and are effective right away.

The CTPAT Trade Compliance program is a part of the wider CTPAT Security program, which mandates that importers comply with all CBP and other government agency regulations, maintain documentation proving they owe no money to the US government and fulfill the program’s yearly criteria.

It is voluntary and only applies to importers with US or Canadian addresses that have at least two years of import history, are active Tier II or Tier III security partners, and have committed financial resources to take on the task of overseeing their own compliance.

Admissibility packages from partner companies whose shipments have been held up because of forced labor will be given priority for examination by the relevant Center of Excellence and Expertise. At the time that supporting paperwork is supplied, the importer must declare that it is a current participant in the program and ask for a prioritized review. After making this declaration, the Center should use its best efforts to process this package before any other non-partner items that are received by the Center team or division.

Partner companies may choose to keep their shipments intact at their facility rather than redelivering them to CBP until an admissibility determination has been made or until a physical inspection is necessary when shipments arrive at their facility and are later determined to be held because of connections to forced labor, where redelivery is typically requested.

Partners that have a shipment held by CBP as a result of a withhold release order are permitted to transport the items to a bonded facility where they will be kept undamaged until CBP makes a decision on admissibility.