User:Jmiles1107/SCC

Supply Chain Compliance is the process of assessing all parties within a supply chain to ensure that country regulations, enforced by customs authorities, are met with due diligence and that security measures are in place and properly being followed. All organizations participating in global trade should watch for specific supply chain risk factors in order to meet the safety and organizational requirements of customs. These risk factors include: 1) Country of origin 2) Shipment and delivery accuracy 3) Physical Security 4) Internal Processes and 5) Social and Environmental Responsibilities.

The country of origin is important for knowing the location of your supplier's production facilities, and therefore recognizing their susceptibility to security threats. Those countries with a higher vulnerability to threats may affect the security of the supplier's manufacturing plants, and as a result cause delays in the supply chain or compromise the imported products. Furthermore, an importer needs to ensure that a supplier can deliver products consistently and on a timely schedule.

The physical security of the supplier's manufacturing plants has become ever more important as terrorism continues to increase around the globe. Initiatives such as C-TPAT, PIP, and AEO have assisted importers and suppliers in assessing physical security measures such as the construct of buildings, the existence of security parameters, as well as other safety measures practiced throughout the facility. Furthermore, in order to measure the risks and best practices of parties within the supply chain, importers must solicit information about a supplier's internal processes. Not only does this provide visibility into security measures, but also into the controls put in place during the manufacturing process.

Social and Environmental Responsibility, along with Product Safety are two key issues that should be addressed throughout the supply chain. A few important questions include:


 * How are chemicals disposed of after they were used during the manufacturing process?
 * Does your organization abide by the no child labor law?
 * Is lead used in products targeted at children under the age of 12?
 * Is your organization in the practice of reselling recalled items?

Not only does an importer have to comply with the Consumer Product Safety Act, as mentioned above, but also has to comply with the Lacey Act. The Lacey Act makes it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell or receive any plant in violation of the laws of the United States. The Lacey Act requires an import declaration, upon the importation of plants, trees or their products, which contains the following elements:


 * Scientific names of all plant species
 * Quantity, including units of measure
 * Country of harvest
 * Value of imported plants or plant products

In order to create an import declaration, importers must again solicit those suppliers throughout their supply chain to get to the source of the plant or tree they intend on bringing into the U.S.

Managing Your Supply Chain
Organizations must have a process in place for their supply chain risk manager to efficiently collect information required for any compliance certification (C-TPAT, AEO, PIP) or regulation (Consumer Product Safety, Lacey Act, Social and Environmental Responsibility). This process involves soliciting suppliers throughout the supply chain to gather the correct and up-to-date information. Often times this process is manual and therefore inefficient.

With an automated supply chain compliance solution, organizations have the ability to electronically collect, standardize, and organize the supplier information. A web-based solution allows a supply chain risk manager to build customized questionnaires and send notifications via email to suppliers. As suppliers complete the questionnaires, the risk manager captures the data automatically, instead of having to wait until each question is answered and all surveys are returned.

Furthermore, a supply chain compliance solution should also incorporate a variety of programs, allowing the organization to customize the software for their particular needs.


 * AEO, C-TPAT, and PIP incorporated programs are necessary for organizations to validate and re-validate their suppliers based on risk ratings and best practices through customized questionnaires within the solution.
 * Consumer Product Safety and Social & Environmental Responsibility are important for organizations to solicit their suppliers on safety standards and their obligation of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Consumer Product Safety Act.
 * Lacey Act is a necessity in a supply chain solution for those organizations importing plants and wildlife. In order to comply with the Lacey Act, importers must solicit their suppliers on the products' country of harvest along with other important data elements.
 * Training is a plus in a supply chain solution, allowing organizations to facilitate compliance and security training both internally and externally.