WCO group seeks comment on draft international security standards
A movement within the World Customs Organization to develop a common set of global cargo security standards and simplified customs procedures is rapidly gaining steam with the release Wednesday of technical specifications for implementing broad security and modernization principles.
In December, a WCO policy group endorsed a global cargo security regime pushed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and more than a dozen other leading customs administrations seeking to create an interoperable supply chain monitoring system that simultaneously promotes security and the movement of goods. The group’s goal is to limit terrorist access to the global containerized trading system and harmonize rules so companies aren’t whipsawed trying to comply with separate rules in each country.
The cargo security framework is based on principles underpinning U.S. border security policy, including a universal risk-management approach towards cargo inspections, the sharing of commercial data elements by business and between customs administrations, conducting targeted inspections of exports (not just imports, as has traditionally been the case), and creating incentives for the private sector to adopt their own internal controls for packing and shipping containers.
The WCO leadership is pushing to get the package of global standards completed this spring in time for a vote by the 164-members at the intergovernmental organization’s annual June meeting in Brussels, Belgium. In 2003, the WCO adopted a package of security and trade facilitation guidelines. The move from guidelines to standards is borne out of an understanding among many developed countries that the WCO, which operates by consensus and does not have treaty enforcement powers, needs to take a more assertive role in protecting international trade.
The annexes and appendices shared via e-mail by CBP with companies and associations involved in international trade define how to implement the framework in the areas of customs-to-customs arrangements and customs-to-business partnerships. They are based on several previous WCO policy instruments, including the 2003 guidelines and the revised Kyoto Convention on simplified customs procedures and cooperation, as well as the best practices of the United States and several other WCO members. The process, for example, would internationalize CBP’s Container Security Initiative for stationing officers in overseas ports to assist with selective inspections of outbound containers and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism trusted shipper program.
In fact, much of the proposed policy on encouraging private sector supply chain security programs by offering streamlined customs procedures and reduced delays reads like (and goes beyond) CBP’s latest draft for tighter C-TPAT security criteria, which is expected to be implemented soon. Customs authorities would help companies, or “authorized economic operators,” set up security programs and validate that controls are in place.
Countries that adopt the standards would be expected, among other things, to conduct risk analysis of outbound shipments, require the placement of secure seals on containers, require the use of a unique consignment reference number for transactions, establish advance electronic collection of the export declaration and carrier manifest, use non-intrusive container inspection and radiation detection equipment, and develop computerized systems to share 27 key commercial data elements.
The goal is for countries to mutually recognize customs controls so that customs administrations have the confidence to rely on each other’s security screening, data and enforcement actions without having to duplicate the work of other national authorities.
About 50 customs administrations will attend a WCO meeting scheduled for Feb. 28-March 2 in Brussels to draft what will likely be the “penultimate” international cargo standards document, said Keith Thomson, assistant commissioner for international affairs, at Tuesday’s meeting in Washington of the federal commercial operations advisory committee known as COAC.
Thomson encouraged importers and exporters to respond to the preliminary annexes, which he said are “fairly close to the final document,” and get comments in by Feb. 28 so they can be incorporated in the U.S. position during the international talks. Comments should be sent to brendan.ohearn@dhs.gov and michael.mullen@dhs.gov.
Beginning with a mid-December pitch by WCO Secretary General Michel Danet to a handful of representatives from the U.S. trade community followed by an appeal for support at January’s Customs Trade Symposium in Washington, the activist group of customs directors has conducted an outreach campaign to educate other countries and industry groups about the international cargo security regime.
CBP and other WCO officials met in Canada last week with Canadian and U.S. business officials to brief them on the WCO campaign. A similar meeting with customs administrators and the private sector is scheduled March 17 in Mexico, followed by a series of meetings in Ghana, Korea and Uzbekistan to generate support for the international cargo security regime, Thomson said.
The WCO is expected to increase its resources for helping less-developed countries build technical and infrastructure capacity to conduct modern, automated customs exams and clearances, Thomson said.