On October 27, 2008 the House Committee on Ways and Means as well as the Committee's Subcommittee on Trade issued a bi-partisan letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security questioning some provisions of the proposed final rule concerning the implementation of the "10+2" rule published by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The "10+2" rule involves a provision of the SAFE Port Act of 2006, which requires Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to provide for the collection of additional data to enhance the security of cargo.
Congressional members reminded Customs that "the law directed CBP to consider ‘the cost, benefit, and feasibility of requiring new additional nonmanifest documentation’" and "also directed CBP when promulgating the regulations to ‘adhere to the parameters’ in the Trade Act of 2002 that would have an impact on the importing community, which includes importers, carriers, customs brokers and freight forwarders." The letter spoke of "a range of serious concerns among the importing community as to the SAFE Port Act provision’s effective implementation."
Congressional members urged CBP to "issue an interim final rule before a final rule" to "evaluate the rule in practice with a representative group of volunteer importers", and to establish a collaborative process, working with the importing community to correct operational and technical issues. The members also urged that CBP recognize the contributions of C-TPAT participants in some tangible way, providing meaningful benefits to those participants.