A number of entities are involved in the supply chain. These entities include the following: Importers: Bring articles of trade from a foreign source into a domestic market. Importers are responsible for providing ISF data, but an importer may designate an authorized agent to file the ISF on the importer’s behalf. Carriers: Transport goods from a foreign port to a U.S. port. For foreign cargo remaining on board, the carrier is considered the importer and is required to submit the ISF for the shipment. Licensed customs brokers: Clear goods through customs by preparing and filing proper entry forms, advising importers on duties to be paid, and arranging for delivery of imported goods to the destination. They also may act as the designated agent for importers in filing their ISFs. Shippers: Supply or own the commodities that are being shipped. Freight consolidators: Accept partial container shipments from individual shippers and combine the shipments into a single container for delivery to the carrier. Non-vessel operating common carriers: Buy shipping space on a vessel, through a special arrangement with an ocean carrier, and resell the space to individual shippers. Supply chain entities may participate in CBP’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), a voluntary program designed to improve the security of the international supply chain while maintaining an efficient flow of goods. Under C-TPAT, CBP officials work in partnership with private companies to review their supply chain security plans to improve members’ overall security. In return for committing to making improvements to the security of their shipments by joining the program, C-TPAT members may receive benefits, such as reduced numbers of inspections or shorter border wait times for their shipments. Within 1 year of a member’s initial certification into the program, CBP is to conduct a validation to ensure that the security measures outlined in the certified members’ security profiles and periodic self-assessments are reliable, accurate, and effective. As of July 8, 2010, 4,416 importers were members of C-TPAT. In June 2004, CBP launched the Advance Trade Data Initiative with the goal of identifying information about shipments in advance of their arrival in the United States for improving the targeting of containers that could be used by terrorists to transport dangerous cargo. In the process of identifying such information for the Advance Trade Data Initiative, CBP consulted with its Trade Support Network in 2005 and formed a Cargo Targeting Task Force in March 2006 to review the initiative and to make recommendations for improving targeting of high-risk oceangoing cargo. Figure 1 shows a portion of the millions of cargo containers that are shipped to the United States each year that CBP is to screen for potential threats. In October 2006, the SAFE Port Act was enacted, which requires CBP to collect additional data related to the movement of cargo through the international supply chain and analyze these data to identify high-risk cargo for inspection prior to cargo loading at foreign seaports. The additional data elements were to include appropriate elements of customs entry data as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security. The SAFE Port Act requires CBP to adhere to the parameters in section 343(a) of the Trade Act of 2002, including provisions requiring consultation with a broad range of affected trade industry entities and restricting the use of information to security purposes, in developing the regulation. In 2007, CBP distributed to trade industry groups a Proposal for Advance Trade Data Elements, which proposed the data elements that later became known as the 10+2 data elements, and posted the proposal on its Web site with a request for comments from the public. In January 2008, CBP published a notice of proposed rulemaking and, in November 2008, CBP issued its interim final rule to require the submission of these additional data elements. The interim final rule went into effect on January 26, 2009, and provided a 1-year flexible enforcement period. Importers are responsible for submitting data elements for the ISF, and the required data elements differ depending on the cargo’s destination. For cargo containers that are bound for the United States as the final destination, the rule requires importers to submit 10 data elements to CBP 24 hours prior to loading. Four of these 10 data elements are identical to elements submitted later for customs entry purposes. For cargo containers that are transiting the United States but for which the United States is not the final destination, the rule requires importers to submit 5 data elements to CBP prior to loading. (See table 1 for the required ISF data elements.) In addition to data already provided by carriers under the 24-hour rule, which requires that carriers submit cargo manifest information—a list of cargo carried in a container—to CBP 24 hours before U.S.-bound cargo is loaded onto a vessel at a foreign port, carriers are required to provide the Additional Carrier Requirements, which include the following two data elements: Vessel stow plan: No later than 48 hours after departure from the last foreign port, carriers must submit information to include the vessel operator, voyage number, the stow position of each container, hazardous material code (if applicable), and the port of discharge. For a voyage of less than 24 hours (short haul), CBP requires that the stow plan be provided any time prior to arrival at the first U.S. port. For an example of a vessel stow plan see figure 2. Container status messages (CSM): CSMs report terminal container movements, such as loading and discharging the vessel, and report the change in the status of containers, such as if they are empty or full. CSMs also report conveyance movements, such as vessel arrivals and departures. Carriers must supply CSMs daily for certain events relating to all containers laden with cargo destined to arrive within the limits of a port in the United States by vessel. For U.S.-bound cargo, the interim final rule provides two types of flexibilities with respect to certain data elements (see table 2). These flexibilities do not apply to the ISF filings for in-transit cargo. The purpose of the flexibilities is to allow CBP to conduct a review of the data elements, including an evaluation of any specific compliance difficulties that the trade industry may be encountering with respect to these data elements. In order to ensure that importers always provide CBP with the most updated and accurate 10+2 data, CBP allows importers to alter their ISF submissions through an amendment process that is not related to the flexibilities. Under this standard amendment process, the importer is obligated to provide an amended ISF as soon as better information is discovered or if there are changes to the shipment—for example, if merchandise is sold in transit—up until vessel arrival in the first U.S. port. Using this standard amendment option, importers can amend any data element included in an ISF submission, regardless of whether the flexibilities were used, before a shipment’s arrival at a U.S. port. In addition, CBP allows for these standard amendments to be provided after vessel arrival at the first U.S. port even though the importer is not generally obligated to make amendments to the ISF when better information or changes to the shipment occur after vessel arrival in the first U.S. port. The collection of these additional 10+2 data elements is intended to improve high-risk targeting efforts. ATS incorporates two types of targeting rules—tactical and strategic—to identify risk factors in shipment data. Tactical rules: Rules that identify risks posed by specific intelligence or threats. Tactical rules typically identify threats based on the specific entries for one or more shipment data elements. Tactical rules are updated with minimal delay to react to the immediate and specific nature of the intelligence. Strategic rules: Rules that identify more generalized intelligence or threats or that identify relationships between different data elements within a single record or across multiple records. The process to update strategic rules involves iterations of testing to ensure that rules have their intended effect. Within ATS, CBP develops combinations, or sets, of these two types of rules and assigns numerical weights to the rules in a set to determine overall risk scores for particular threats, such as narcotics trafficking or national security threats. CBP uses one such weighted rule set—the national security weighted rule set—as targeting criteria to assess the national security risk posed by maritime cargo. TECS—a set of tactical rules that compares 10+2 data to known violators of federal law— contributes, along with other strategic and tactical rule sets, to risk scores generated by the national security weighted rule set. Based on these risk scores, as well as CBP targeters’ analyses of shipment data, CBP is to take actions to mitigate the threats. CBP assesses the risks posed by shipments repeatedly throughout the transit process. CBP reviews shipment records prior to the loading of the cargo onto a U.S.-bound vessel, as well as during shipment transit, to identify potential threats and determine if additional action, such as cargo inspection, is required. When shipment record data elements are updated with additional or amended information, ATS could identify new risks or mitigate previously identified risks. Therefore, a shipment’s overall risk score could change while the shipment is in transit. Regulatory agencies have authority and responsibility for developing and issuing regulations. The basic process by which all federal agencies develop and issue regulations is spelled out in the Administrative Procedure Act. Among other things, the act generally requires agencies to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register. After giving interested persons or entities an opportunity to comment on the proposed rule by providing “written data, views, or arguments,” the agency may then publish the final rule.