Coast Guard Notice on TWIC's April 15th Nationwide Compliance Date
The Coast Guard has issued a press release which states that on April 15, 2009, nationwide compliance for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program1 was implemented.
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Individuals Requiring Access to Secure Areas of a Facility Now Required to Obtain TWIC
All licensed or documented mariners and individuals requiring access to secure areas of a facility are now required to obtain a TWIC.
Homeport's Facility Personnel Data Form Submission Process Now Disabled
Due to the implementation of the TWIC nationwide, the Coast Guard states that information provided in the Facility Personnel Data Form is no longer required to be submitted in Homeport. Therefore, the Facility Personnel Data Form submission process in Homeport has been disabled.
All information that was previously provided to Transportation Security Administration through the Facility Personnel Data Form is now provided to TSA during TWIC enrollment.
Public Meeting on TWIC Reader Requirements
The Coast Guard also recently announced that it is holding a public meeting on May 6, 2009 in Arlington, VA to receive comments on its March 2009 advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on TWIC reader requirements.
(The March 2009 ANPR discussed the Coast Guard's preliminary thoughts on potential requirements for owners and operators of certain regulated vessels, facilities, and Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) facilities for use of electronic readers designed to work with TWICs as an access control measure. Among other things, the Coast Guard's proposed dividing certain vessels and facilities into groups according to risk, each with different requirements for TWIC reader frequency at different Maritime Security (MARSEC) levels, etc.
The ANPR also discussed potential recordkeeping requirements for those owners or operators required to use an electronic reader and amendments to security plans previously approved by the Coast Guard to incorporate TWIC requirements. (Comments on the ANPR may be submitted until May 26, 2009.))
1TWIC has been developed by the Transportation Security Administration to ensure that all personnel requiring unescorted access to secure areas of Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA)-regulated facilities and vessels, and all mariners holding Coast Guard-issued credentials, possess a biometric TWIC card by a certain date, April 15, 2009 (also expressed on certain TSA documents as April 14, 2009). The ANPR and the subject of the upcoming public meeting specifically deal with the reader requirements associated
(See ITT's Online Archives or 04/15/09 news, 09041599 7, for BP summary of Coast Guard meeting notice on TWIC reader requirements.
See ITT's Online Archives or 03/27/09 news, 09032720, for BP summary of Coast Guard ANPR on TWIC readers requirements.
See ITT's Online Archives or 05/08/08 news, 08050835, for BP summary of the TWIC compliance date being extended to April 15, 2009 (from September 25, 2008).
See ITT's Online Archives or 09/24/07 news, 07092420, for BP summary of TSA issuing TWIC Biometric Reader and Smart Card Application Specs.
See ITT's Online Archives or 03/07/07 news, 07030710, for the final part of a multi-part BP summary of the January 2007 joint TSA/Coast Guard TWIC final rule, with links to previous parts.)
Coast Guard TWIC press release (dated 04/15/09) available at http://homeport.uscg.mil/mycg/portal/ep/contentView.do?contentTypeId=2&contentId=175046&programId=1073756464&pageTypeId=13489&BV_SessionID=@@@@1132964626.1239886734@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccceadegmkdhdlhcfjgcfgfdffhdghl.0