Washington – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT) signed a Joint Work Plan yesterday that lays out the path to mutual recognition of the two countries’ Authorized Economic Operator programs: CBP’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and SAT’s New Certified Companies Scheme (NEEC). The plan, expected to be implemented in two years, was signed by CBP Deputy Commissioner David V. Aguilar and SAT Director Aristóteles Nuñez Sánchez.

The Joint Work Plan lays out the path forward to mutual recognition between the two programs. Mutual recognition allows for companies enrolled in one program to receive reciprocal benefits from the other with the result of both further securing the international supply chain and facilitating trade between the United States and Mexico.

C-TPAT is a voluntary government-business initiative to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve overall international supply chain and U.S. border security. C-TPAT recognized that U.S. Customs and Border Protection can provide the highest level of cargo security only through close cooperation with the ultimate owners of the international supply chain such as importers, carriers, consolidators, licensed customs brokers, and manufacturers.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.