On May 21, 2015, Integration Point and US Customs and Border Protection held a webcast regarding Phase II of the Customs and Trade Protection Against Terrorism (CTPAT).  You can find that webcast on-demand here. During the webcast, some questions were unanswered due to time constraints. The presenter, Shawn Porter with CTPAT Headquarters, agreed to answer those questions via Global Trade News.

The first set of Q&A dealt with Exporter Entity and how to handle multiple locations and facilities in the new Portal.  You can find that post here. This second set of Q&A focuses on company officer  and security profiles.

Company Officer

Q. Can someone designated as the CTPAT Coordinator or Primary Contact for the account be the Company Officer in the portal?

A. Yes

Q. What is CBP’s definition of Company Officer?

A. See page four of the User Manual.

Q. Can you please clarify what changes must be made by the Company Officer?

A. All Agreements must be made by a Company Officer.  This includes initial and annual submission of the Security Profile and all international agreements.

Q. Do you have available a task list for the various users (User/Officer /Admin/Consultant)?  I would like to gain a better understanding of the role for each user within the Portal, specifically the Company Officer.

A. Please see the User Manual at cbp.gov/ctpat for details.

Q. Am I to understand correctly that the Company Officer must manually submit all changes or updates to the portal? For example, when we do our Annual Self-Assessment, the Officer has to submit it? A Company Officer is not going to appreciate a manual task added to them.  Please clarify in detail the expected actions from the Company Officer. 

A. All Agreements must be made by a Company Officer.  This includes initial and annual submission of the Security Profile and all international agreements.  This will take all of five minutes’ effort once per year.

Q. Will it be necessary for the Corporate Officer to actually perform all of the “button pushing” administrative tasks in the new system?

A. Any contact in a CTPAT security model can add/edit information.  All Agreements must be submitted by a Company Officer.  For further details see the User Manual at cbp.gov/ctpat.

Q. To the point of the Company Officer, what if power of attorney is issued to the director of global trade compliance to handle all matters related to customs/export? Does the Officer still need to perform the acceptance in the portal, or does the POA allow for the person to handle the duties of the Corporate Officer?

A. If a person is designated as a Company Officer in the Portal, that person can conduct such functions.

Q. Are there any plans on changing the definition of “Company Officer” for CTPAT portal purposes?

A. No

Q. I understand that the persons shown as Admin in the portal can submit information. Is this correct?

A. Yes

Security Profiles

Q. I completed our annual Security Profile update, and a week later I received an email saying not to submit but wait for the new portal 2.0. and to re-enter the update responses.  Are there any special requirements that will prevent copy and paste into the new Portal? 

A. No

Q. If we have completed our annual Security Profile already this year, will we have to do this again? 

A. It will need to be completed for your next annual review or validation, whichever comes first.

Q. Are we still not able to update the Security Profile until the Phase II is released?

A. You are able to update it, but it is wasted effort as you would have to repeat the action.

Q. What should an Importer do if their Annual Security Profile is due in May?

A. All anniversary dates have been moved out to ensure all Partners get the full 90 days to submit updates.

Q. Could an importer merge its Security Profile Model with its related company that is a Vessel Operating Carrier who will be applying to CTPAT?

A. Yes. But that is correctly called expanding vs. merging.

Q. Our annual profile review is due on 7/1/15. The delay of the Phase II release could put meeting the deadline in jeopardy because a new deployment date has not been determined.  What should we do? We should not have to enter information twice.

A. All anniversary dates have been moved out to ensure all Partners get the full 90 days to submit updates.

Q. Will the 2014 Security Profile updates automatically be transferred to CTPAT 2.0?

A. Yes, in a PDF document.

Q. Now that the security criteria are being broken out into single sentences, will we still be able to see previous responses so that we can update the profile?

A. Yes, in a PDF document.