TSA Inviting Shippers to Join Cargo Screening Program as Air Freight Exemption Ends

The Transportation Security Administration is inviting shippers to join its Certified Cargo Screening Program ahead of a change in October that will eliminate certain air freight screening exemptions for cargo deemed ”impracticable to screen.” Shippers enrolled in the program will be allowed to “directly transfer cargo to an aircraft operator without requiring additional screening,” TSA said in a notice this week.

The TSA announcement comes as freight forwarders urge shippers to enroll in the program before the agency’s Impracticable to Screen exemption expires Oct. 31 (see 2307110027). That exemption allowed cargo deemed impossible to screen -- such as exports of airplane engines, drums with petroleum residue and other hazardous materials -- to avoid traditional screening methods when transported on international flights.

TSA’s notice doesn’t mention the looming expiration of its Impracticable to Screen exemption but provides instructions for shippers looking to apply to the Certified Cargo Screening Program. Program participants must have TSA-approved procedures in place to screen “their own products during the course of manufacturing and packaging, and to screen other air cargo items to national and international security standards.”

Interested shippers should email aircargoprograms@tsa.dhs.gov. Each applicant must “undergo an onsite corporate assessment performed by TSA,” the agency said. “TSA will use this information to evaluate the applicant's qualifications and readiness to participate in the CCSP.”