The Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition was created as a program in 1996 by legacy U. S. Customs Service. Teams of Customs enforcement officers travelled regularly to Latin America to promote the program and engage the business community in combating drugs destined for the United States. In 2002, after the creation of the CTPAT program, U.S. Customs passed the “BASC” baton to the private sector where it was formally established as a nonprofit organization named the World BASC Organization (WBO)..
BASC is the leading private sector organization in the Americas driving the adoption of supply chain security practices and standards, playing a major role in helping protect the U.S. border and international supply chain by maintaining the safety and security of shipments destined to the U.S. from traditionally high-risk regions. BASC standards and audit process were harmonized in 2008 with CTPAT security criteria and validations. This was done to ensure that CTPAT companies with overseas BASC business partners could count on knowing that a BASC certification was based on the same security criteria as those of CTPAT.