Land Border Carrier Initiative Program

This document amends the Customs Regulations to provide for the Land Border Carrier Initiative Program (LBCIP), a program designed to prevent smugglers of illicit drugs from utilizing commercial land conveyances for their contraband. The program provides for agreements between carriers and Customs in which the carrier agrees to increase its security measures and cooperate more closely with Customs, and Customs agrees to apply, commensurate with the degree of carrier compliance with the terms of the agreement, special administrative provisions pertaining to penalty amounts and expedited processing of penalty actions if illegal drugs are found on a conveyance belonging to the participating carrier. Further, at certain, high-risk locations along the land border, an importer's continued use of the Line Release method of processing entries of merchandise is conditioned on the use of carriers that participate in the LBCIP. These regulatory changes are designed to improve Customs enforcement of Federal drug laws along the land border by enhancing its ability to interdict illicit drug shipments through additional trade movement information provided by common carriers that voluntarily choose to participate in the LBCIP.