Brussels, 24/11/2003 (Agence Europe) - As we announced (EUROPE of 19 November, p.6), the Director General responsible for customs issues at the European Commission, Robert Verrue, and US Ambassador to Brussels, Rockwell Schnabel, initialled an agreement last Tuesday aimed at including the security of freight container transport in the customs cooperation agreement between the Union and the United States. The aim of the new agreement, which completes the US initiatives launched in the wake of the attacks on 11 September 2001 is twofold. At bilateral level, it is to improve security throughout the logistic chain in international transport and reconcile the measures intended to facilitate trade while bearing security aspects in mind during customs inspection of legitimate trade, and also to establish the same levels and the same standards for inspection for both American and Community operators.
Not only US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who took part at the transatlantic ministerial meeting the same day on the fringe of the General Affairs Council, but also Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, responsible for customs issues, welcomed the result of negotiations as a considerable move forward. The European Union and the United States will work hand in hand to ensure that trade can be carried out in safety and guarantee that there are equitable conditions on both sides of the Atlantic. This mutual agreement mainly guarantees the security of imported containers that are trans-shipped or which circulate under a transit regime, wherever they come from, the Commission's spokesperson states in a press release. He underlines the fact that making information available at an early date to clearly identify the risks will be a vital element for cooperation.
Once the agreement is officially adopted (by the Council of Ministers for the EU), it will extend the scope of the customs cooperation and mutual assistance agreement in customs matters that Europeans and Americans signed on 28 May 1997, and which is currently restricted to customs cooperation in the traditional sense. A working group will be formed in the near future in order to develop the technical chapter relating to cooperation development. It is expected to set out recommendations with a view, among other things, to developing minimum norms, identifying best practices for monitoring security of international trade, defining norms to allow high-risk despatches to be identified, and improving standards for industrial partnership programmes intended to improve security of the supply chain and facilitate legitimate trade, etc.