Brussels, 28/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 27 March, the European Commission and the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced that they had adopted a joint roadmap which aims to bring mutual recognition of European and US customs security programmes by 2009. The European authorities believe that such mutual recognition will have an impact on the controversial US H.R.1 law, which, from 2012, will require all containers leaving third country ports for the United States to be scanned (see EUROPE 9473). “Scanning every container doesn't make sense if we have mutual recognition” of customs security standards operated in the EU and the US, the spokeswoman for Customs Union Commissioner Lásló Kovács told EUROPE on Friday 28 March.
Customs security programmes were introduced in the United States and in the European Union to improve the security of the supply chain. They balance controls with trade facilitation: traders demonstrating that they have made every effort to secure their part of the supply chain are granted a special status - for example, that of Authorised Economic Operator in the EU - which means they benefit from simplified customs procedures.
Mutual recognition of European and US customs security programmes would allow a company taking part in, for example, the Community programme to enjoy benefits similar to those of a company in the US programme. To achieve the objective, the newly adopted roadmap comprises six areas: political, administrative, legal, policy, technical/operational and evaluation. Planned efforts will establish guidelines on information exchange, carry out joint checks to identify differences between the two systems, exchange best practice through joint visits and conferences, continue dialogue on legal
and policy developments within the respective administrations, evaluate the benefits of mutual recognition for participants in the scheme once they have been authorised. Indicators will be put in place to assess progress.
A joint pilot project comparing the European and US programmes was completed in 2007 and joint training has been carried out. (M.B.)