MONTERREY, NL.- More than 20 years have passed since the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (CTPAT) program was created after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, and at least 3,500 Mexican companies have been certified under this initiative.
Christian Cantú González, Commercial Director of the Mexican Business Council for Foreign Trade, Investment and Technology (Comce) Norest e , mentioned during his participation in the Supply Chain Security Day that during the growth of the program its standards were strengthened and changes were made to it after almost 20 years of its beginning, “so it was more than necessary to update it with current risks.”
However, they were carried out during the pandemic and had a negative impact on the dissemination and clarification of information with specialists.
“Although in our case we tried to disseminate it through videoconferences, its update was very important, but the important thing is that, according to our calculations, there would only be three thousand or three thousand five hundred certified Mexican companies, including transporters, transfer companies, importers and exporters, and of those, we have achieved in 22 years, a higher level that we have audited, and what I would put on the table is to extend the review to foreign companies and for them to enjoy some additional benefits such as greater streamlining and reviews, and generate a higher level of trust,” he said.
Juan Gallardo, Supply Chain Security Specialist from the CTPAT Field Office in Miami, commented in the Panel Discussion: A talk with the young CTPAT in Mexico , that efforts have been made to implement this type of actions for five years .
Victor Daniel Chavez, executive director of the International Trade Security Cluster , said that there are no logistics operators in the country within the program and “it is because they do not want to touch the cargo or I have nothing to do with it.”
Beginnings
Juan Gallardo recalled that he began working at the CTPAT two years after the program began. He recalled that its initial implementation was difficult due to barriers such as language, communication, and the application of criteria in different institutions.
“There are several changes, starting with CTPAT, which for me is a tool for border officials, since when analyzing the manifests, they find that they belong to this program and the process is easier. Between 50% and 80% of the daily merchandise is entered by the members, and the officials can focus on other things. Initially it was very difficult with companies or trade, but also with the different customs departments,” he said.
Christian Cantú González recalled that in 2003 the BASC (Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition) program certification for logistics security was already in place .
“There were several things that are different today thanks to technology and the CTPAT portal and its updates. At first, there was a boom from 2003 to 2010, and in retrospect, I have seen companies that after four or five years have a relaxation, especially due to the time that passes for revalidation, which can take three or four years,” he explained.
For this reason, he mentioned that as an organization they support companies to maintain their processes with or without a visit from the CTPAT . We do not do the work for them but rather we teach them to do it because they are the ones who carry out the operation on a daily basis.
For his part, Raúl Gilberto López Santana, Senior Security Manager at Carrier LATAM , agreed on the difficulty in starting this program: “It was complicated for the North American authorities to begin to think of a mechanism, to lay the foundations, to shield or prevent what came from abroad.”
“I remember that there were meetings with American authorities and on one occasion when I was in a meeting I saw how the Mexican authorities went to the Navy and so the Mexicans began to get involved in this area to exchange ideas and lay those foundations,” he explained.
He considered that the future of CTPAT lies in private initiatives in the sense of technological innovation for prevention in order to identify threats that may attack.
Juan Gallardo mentioned that after Covid, validations are changed every year , some of them are done virtually, as well as with members and associations to share information, more work with foreign customs to have a mutual recognition agreement, among other actions.
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