Expanding upon the 1997 EU-US agreement on customs co-operation and mutual assistance in customs matters, the new pact formalises existing bilateral deals allowing American customs officials to conduct pre-shipment clearance in Europe of all cargos bound for the States (see 'Vintage Port', SMT, July 2003, pp22-27 for further details).
By attempting to impose some rules on such national deals, the Commission has tried to prevent unfair advantages being gained for ports whose Governments have negotiated the best security procedures with the US Government.
The resulting agreement encourages EU Member States to extend the system to additional international ports as long as procedures adopted comply with all relevant terms and conditions. It also allows Governments to negotiate further deals with US officials on matters covered by the agreement, although the Commission has made it quite clear that it would have to be consulted immediately.
The new deal also gives the 1997 agreement's EU-US joint Customs Co-operation Committee the authority to agree follow-up rules on transatlantic trade security standards currently being drafted by a Working Group. The draft agreement states that the Committee should notably consider: "Securing the logistics chain of international trade and, in particular, as a first priority to enhance the identification and security screening of all high risk sea container shipments."
A further priority involves the establishment of "minimum standards for risk management techniques and related requirements and programmes," with another entailing officials from Washington and Brussels "co-ordinating positions, to the greatest extent practicable, in any multilateral forum where issues relating to container security may be appropriately raised and discussed."
Source
SMT
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