New NAFTA Security Agreement Unveiled in San Diego

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske and Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT) Chief Aristóteles Núñez Sánchez recently signed a mutual recognition arrangement that allows stronger collaboration between CBP’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and SAT’s New Certified Companies Scheme (NEEC).

The signing was held at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit of Mexico Executive Steering Committee Meeting in San Diego.

“I am pleased to be here to join Chief Núñez in the signing of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement,” said CBP Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske. “This is a significant milestone for both the United States and Mexico and the facilitation of secure trade between the two countries.”

The goal of the mutual recognition arrangement is to link the two industry partnership programs, so that together they create a unified and sustainable security posture that can assist in securing and facilitating global cargo trade.

Frank W. Lange, principal with Alder Creek Consulting, LLC, noted at the recently-staged “3PL Value Creation” summit in Chicago, that U.S. shippers can best begin their global enterprise by entering the Mexican market.
“It’s a good starting point,” he said. “But there are still serious infrastructure issues to address.”

The new arrangement between U.S. and Mexican Customs authorities may at least address the security aspect of that issue.

The arrangement provides tangible and intangible benefits to program members to include: fewer exams when shipping cargo, a faster validation process, common standards, efficiency for Customs and business, transparency between Customs administrations, business resumption, front-of-the-line processing, and marketability.

C-TPAT is a voluntary government-business initiative to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve overall international supply chain and U.S. border security. C-TPAT recognized that CBP can provide the highest level of cargo security only through close cooperation with the ultimate owners of the international supply chain such as importers, carriers, consolidators, licensed customs brokers, and manufacturers. The C-TPAT program is one layer in CBP’s multi-layered cargo enforcement strategy.
In addition to Mexico, the United States also has mutual recognition arrangements with New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Korea, Israel, Jordan, the European Union and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office.

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