§941 Strategic Plan to Enhance the Security of the International Supply Chain

Summary

The Secretary must create, carry out, and update every three years a plan to make moving shipping containers across borders safer. The Secretary must work with federal, State, local, and tribal agencies and with private companies. The plan must explain who does what, point out gaps or overlaps in duties, recommend any needed law, rule, or organizational changes, and set measurable goals with steps, tools, and a schedule. It must use existing resources, weigh costs and benefits, offer incentives for voluntary cargo security measures, think about effects on small and medium businesses, set up ways to share intelligence with industry, and give a framework for responding to a security incident and for restarting trade quickly in line with section 942. The plan must also link to other security programs and build on existing national maritime and response strategies. When making and updating the plan, the Secretary must consult appropriate government and private stakeholders and, when practical, use advisory groups to review drafts, including the Homeland Security Advisory Committee, the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee, and the Commercial Operations Advisory Committee. The Secretary is encouraged to consider international standards and practices from organizations like the International Maritime Organization, the World Customs Organization, the International Labor Organization, and the International Organization for Standardization. The Secretary had to send the first plan to Congress no later than 270 days after October 13, 2006, and must send updates no later than 270 days after October 5, 2018, and every three years after that.