DHS closer to settle on one of many Green Lane safe shipper proposals

Shippers are eager for the “green lane” policy, in which shippers deemed safe for a more relaxed inspection regime move forward, but details are yet to be worked out. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has been inundated with proposals coming from industry and friends of industry in Congress. The central piece of various green lane proposals is the inspection of fewer cargo containers by a safe shipper relative to the number of unsafe shippers being inspected (in any case, critics note, the number is woefully small). At a 1 December meeting of DHS Commercial Operations Advisory Committee (COAC) — a private sector body which consults for DHS on supply-chain security issues — a working group offered several suggested incentives for green lane shippers. All the proposed incentives could be enacted by CBP without a change in current law or regulations. The various proposals include expedited background checks for transportation worker identification cards and other forms of worker identification, advanced electronic filing of entries, and zero inspections unless CBP had cause to target a particular shipment.

-read more in the CQ report (sub. req.)