The European Union has reached agreement with United States officials over a new cargo deal which will allow the "sophisticated targeting" of security checks
A maritime security agreement has been negotiated between the European Commission and the United States (US) Government that should lead to a common system of pre-shipment clearance for all goods shipped between the European Union (EU) and the States regardless of their departure ports, writes Keith Nuthall.

EU ministers are currently being asked to approve the deal, which would lead to demands on European and American exporters that they provide sufficient information concerning their goods to allow "sophisticated targeting" of security checks prior to shipment from ports in the EU or the US.

For its part, the European Commission has pushed hard for this agreement because of concerns surrounding a series of bilateral deals between Member States and the US, allowing larger ports to comply with the Americans' existing 24-hour rule – the driving force behind the agreement that demands detailed cargo information be supplied to US Customs in advance of export.

Britain has already joined the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden in creating such arrangements, the UK ports involved being Liverpool ('Vintage Port', SMT, July 2003, pp22-27), Felixstowe, Southampton, Tilbury and Thamesport.

Although these deals cover 85% of EU-US trade they have duly upset the Commission, which has launched legal action against the Member States mentioned – fearing that they are driving a 'coach-and-horses' through the key EU principle of a single European market.

Speaking exclusively to SMT, EU internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: "This is an important step forward. The EU and the US will now be working hand-in-hand in order to secure trade and equal conditions for all."

To speed up implementation of the new deal, a Working Group has now been created to elaborate on technical proposals that will bring the agreement to fruition. These include:

  • the creation of minimum standards for ports to participate in an EU-US Container Security Initiative (as foreseen by the agreement);

  • drawing up detailed rules to "identify high risk shipments imported into, transhipped through or transiting the US and the EU;

  • establishing standards as to the screening of those shipments, encompassing information exchange and automated targeting systems.

Source

SMT