9 November 2007

U.S, EU target 2009 for mutual recognition

The following was excerpted from the 8 November 2007 edition of “American Shipper”.

The United States and the European Union believe they can begin extending reciprocal fast-lane customs clearance for shippers that meet joint security standards by 2009, customs leaders for the two trading partners said last week.

Both sides have established supply chain security partnership programs with industry to extend expedited import cargo clearance to companies that have approved procedures for maintaining control of shipments at origin and in transit to prevent criminals or terrorists from smuggling weapons or contraband in a container. The programs hinge on authorities verifying that promised internal controls are in place through on-site visits and compliance history reviews. The United States and the EU, operating under the framework of the World Customs Organization, have had difficulty in the past year agreeing on how to mutually recognize their respective Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism and Authorized Economic Operator programs so that companies can be certified by either party and qualify for the other's trade benefits.

Now, the Customs departments on both sides of the Atlantic are under the gun to settle their differences and reach an accommodation.

Secure trade is expected to be the top item on the agenda for the first meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council that begins on Friday. The working group was established last April by President Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the EU Commission to make progress within six to 12 months on five priority projects for advancing transatlantic economic integration.

The C-TPAT program has been in place for five years in response to the 9/11 attacks. The EU is scheduled to begin full implementation of its AEO program on Jan. 1, after phasing in the program this year.

U.S. and EU officials must resolve how to mutually recognize each other when C-TPAT strictly covers imports (it doesn't have an export verification component), and whether EU and member state officers need to audit overseas suppliers as do CBP officers. The AEO program only requires checks of domestic-based operations.

…Robert Verrue, the EU's director general of tax and customs, said the two sides should be able to engage in mutual recognition of their security programs by Jan. 1, 2009. CBP Commissioner Ralph Basham said he hoped the two sides would be in position to begin cooperation on security programs sometime in 2009.

The Transatlantic Economic Council, which will include top officials from the EU Commission, the U.S. Council of Economic Advisors and other departments, will use the meeting to develop a roadmap towards mutual recognition of the two security programs.

Verrue told reporters that the two sides will also discuss exchange of officials involved in customs security in the United States and EU member states. The visits, which could range from days to weeks, would enable officials to study the security procedures and compare operations of counterpart border security agencies. EU officers, for instance, might sit in at CBP's National Targeting Center to understand how the agency uses computer analysis of shipping information to target cargo containers for inspection. The working group will also work on ways to regularize and tighten cooperation on protecting intellectual property rights, he said.

Basham said CBP and EU officials will conduct joint validations throughout 2008 to better understand the methodology used for verifying companies have strong processes in place to secure their freight shipments.

The first bilateral example of mutual recognition occurred last summer between the United States and New Zealand.

The European business community, and multinational cor