What is a CAPA in the context of CTPAT?

• A. Customer and Product Analysis.
• B. Corrective and Preventive Action: root-cause analysis, corrective actions, owners, timeline.
• C. Critical Action Plan for audits.
• D. Compliance and Policy Assessment only.

Answer: (B)

CAPA in CTPAT is a disciplined approach to solving security issues by identifying why something went wrong and preventing it from happening again. It stands for Corrective and Preventive Action and encompasses root-cause analysis, implementing corrective actions to address the immediate issue, assigning ownership, and setting a timeline for completion. This helps demonstrate to CTPAT validators that the company can systematically close gaps found during audits or ongoing compliance reviews and continually improve the security program. The other descriptions describe different activities, such as analyzing customers and products, planning actions for audits, or simply assessing compliance and policies, none of which capture the full CAPA process.