TSA ends air cargo screening reporting

The US Transportation Security Administration this week announced it will no longer require carriers and freight forwarders to provide air cargo screening volume reporting.

The move comes after a considerable lobbying effort by the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), and since TIACA has summed up the situation admirably, we quote their statement in its entirety:

Miami, USA, 20th June 2014 – TIACA has welcomed the US Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA’s) decision to lift requirements for air cargo screening reports, less than a year after calling for the regulation to be axed.

TSA has announced that it will no longer require the industry to provide air cargo screening volume reporting, a requirement which TIACA warned last Fall was putting strain on the industry.

“This will significantly relieve the reporting burden on industry, saving many labor and IT hours,” said Doug Brittin, Secretary General, TIACA.

“All passenger carriers, and over 1,200 Certified freight forwarders and shippers in the US, have been required to measure and provide these reports monthly.”

“We applaud this move as a positive step towards adopting a risk-based approach versus forensic compliance.”

Last September, TIACA chairman Oliver Evans wrote to TSA Administrator John Pistole commending the TSA’s collaborative approach to implementing security programs, and its successful implementation of 100% mandatory screening for all cargo on passenger planes into and out of US airports.

Evans called for TSA’s screening achievement to be certified and the reporting requirement to be lifted.

“We are delighted the requirements have now been lifted,” said Evans.

“This move allows industry and government to properly focus limited resources on measures that materially benefit security.

“We represent all sections of the air freight supply chain and we are dedicated to continuing our close work with regulators to ensure global cargo security measures are effective and efficient, while ensuring the flow of commerce.”

Brittin said regular and ongoing inspections of industry’s cargo screening processes made the reports unnecessary, and suggested the personnel and IT resource being used to fulfil the requirement, for both government and industry,  could be better deployed.

After the September 11th 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York, the US Government’s Implementing the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act, passed in August 2007, required 100% of all cargo on passenger aircraft into and out of  US airports to be physically screened.