Its purpose is to protect the containerised shipping from exploitation by the terrorists. The CSI partners can also request placement of their officials at the US ports.
The recommendation was made at the second meeting of the committee held here under the chairmanship of the Secretary, Ministry of Ports and Shipping, on February 7.
The committee has been assigned the task regarding port security and installation of container scanners for the purposes of CSI.
Unless the US government agrees to post its own customs officials, scanning cost at Pakistani ports for export will be an additional burden on our export.
The customs may use scanner for import only to reduce box clearance time as projected in the "Care" to less than 24 hours and gradually to four hours, the committee recommended.
The Care is an in-house initiative of the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) designed to transform customs into a service-oriented, modern and efficient organisation worthy of existence in the 21st century.
The core function of customs is the clearance of goods entering or leaving the country as per the national laws, collecting revenue along the way. The speed of clearance of goods from the ports is a direct measure of customs efficiency.
The basic objective of the Care is to ensure the expeditious clearance of cargo in the most simplified manner, with zero non-receipted expense to the trade.
The following are other recommendations:
-CBR may act as focal point for CSI. Our ports, Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Port Qasim (PQ), in collaboration with the customs authorities, apply for attaining the CSI status to reap economic benefits in the emerging competitive world, and since it is a bilateral agreement between the US and it entails posting of the US national at Pakistani ports, the MFA and other relevant agencies may also be taken into confidence.
When it was pointed out by the customs during the meeting that if containers are cleared under the Care regime, Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) would not be required, Captain Rasheed Abro stated that the Care was entirely a different programme than the CSI.
Javed Mansoor, representing the National Trade and Transport Facilitation Committee (NTTFC), explained that the CSI was not limited to installation of scanners, but was a scheme with wider range, which also included risk assessment for containers destined to the US ports. The Care programme of Pakistan Customs, which is scheduled to be launched by March, includes comprehensive risk assessment of all consignments exported or imported from Pakistan, including non-intrusive inspection of containers found to be at risk.
At present, Pakistani ports do not fall under the CSI system since there is no direct movement of containers to the US ports.
He said the CBR should sign a declaration of principle with the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so that the whole exercise was conducted in a systematic and planned manner.
However, while signing the declaration, it should be provided for that once the containers had been checked and scanned at Pakistani ports, they would not be subjected to further inspection/scanning at trans-shipment ports to avoid scanning charges at trans-shipment ports, he said.
It was informed by the customs representative that the CSI scanners were not capable of detecting the drugs and other requirements of the NII as were proposed by the National Logistic Cell (NLC), therefore, other system would be required to detect drugs and human smuggling.
THE FOLLOWING ARE CORE ELEMENTS OF THE CSI:
-- Using intelligence and other information to identify high risk containers;
-- Pre-scanning of high-risk containers before departure to the US;
-- Using of detection technology, and using of smarter temper evident containers.
THE MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR THE CSI EXPANSION INCLUDE:
-- Seaport must have regular, direct, and substantial container traffic to ports in the United States;
-- Customs must be able to inspect cargo originating, transiting, existing, or being trans-shipped through a country;
-- The NII equipment (gamma or X-ray) and radiation detection equipment must be available for use at or near the potential CSI port;
-- Establishment of an automated risk management system.
-- Sharing of critical data, intelligence, and risk management information with the US Customs and Border Protection.
-- Conduct a thorough port assessment and commit to resolving port infrastructure vulnerabilities.
The CSI will act as a bilateral agreement between the US and the country signing the agreement. Twenty countries have already agreed to implement the initiative.