The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has established various programs to ensure the safety of passengers on onboard passenger aircraft while transporting cargo. One of these cargo programs is the Certified Cargo Screening Program. The TSA states on its website that the “TSA certifies cargo screening facilities located throughout the United States to screen cargo prior to providing it to airlines for shipment on passenger flights. The program is a practical, supply chain solution, which provides security while ensuring the flow of commerce.”
TSA performs yearly and random audits to the referenced Certified Cargo Screening Facilities (CCSFs) to ensure the 100% screening of cargo transported on passenger aircraft. In March 2018, the House passed an Air Cargo Bill, H.R. 4176, which is currently before the Senate. “This bill would require the creation of an air cargo security division in order to elevate issues before the TSA,” explains Attorney Roy León. “If passed by both houses of Congress, scrutiny of the TSA audit will increase.”
Please feel free to contact our office if your CCSF has discovered a possible noncompliance during an internal audit or in response to a TSA audit. Our affiliated attorneys at Benjamin L. England & Assoc. have hands-on experience in assisting airlines, freight forwarders and CCSFs in all aspects of the TSA administrative process, from the audits themselves, to the filing of a possible voluntary disclosure, to TSA enforcement investigations and potential civil penalty hearings.
