NEWS\\\


Big problems brewing over Brussels Customs changes


Brussels has renamed the Modernised Customs Code the Union Customs Code (UCC) and has set a date of 2020 for implementation of all changes. But while that may be eight years off, many in the trade are questioning whether the deadline is feasible – and also whether there might be other serious problems along the way. The ambitious timescale


envisages no fewer than 15 different functional specifications being issued next year – three is previously the most that has been attempted in a single year. At the same time, the current


customs code is due to expire on 24 June 2013, at which point the MCC/UCC was due to take over. If the European parliament pushes through the UCC, that would mean new customs laws but no means of implementing them, because


UCC implementing provisions will be nowhere near ready. Another possibility is that UCC is not adopted by next June, which would mean that there would be no law at all underpinning customs activities in the EU. The UK’s HM Revenue and Customs is currently taking a legal view on the implications of this, said ASM’s chairman, Peter Macswiney. There is the possibility that the


European Commission could use its ‘delegated powers’ under the Lisbon Treaty to push through the


UCC legislation without


authorisation by the European Parliament. (The Parliament does have the right of veto, but this would be very much a “nuclear option” Macswiney pointed out.) “This is quite a worrying development,” he continued. wouldn’t be so bad if the European


“It


Commission had a history of getting these things right but as we’ve seen with the new Import Control System, which is still having to be put right and which will probably take another two years before it is running properly, it doesn’t have a good record. They don’t know enough about how business works.” A legal limbo could have serious


implications for the day to day running of the freight industry, he continued. For example, the simplifications that allow airlines to move transit cargo between EU airports would lapse, meaning that transit declarations would have to be made, at individual shipment level, for all cargo being trucked between airports in Europe. “The whole system would grind to a halt – and security would probably be weakened too, because of the


mass of information that would be generated.” An EU-wide system of


guarantees could be introduced leaving companies who use Inward Processing Relief with serious problems, for example. Some £13 billion a year in the UK alone would need to be guaranteed and even the VAT element alone would be substantial. There may also be changes to the method by which goods imported into the UK are valued for customs purposes; if VAT and duty is levied on the final sale price rather than the price at which they are sold at point of origin, there would be massive implications for business. “The whole thing is extremely


dangerous, and we’re frustrated because it could all go through without proper consultation,” Peter Macswiney concluded.


Issue 2 2012


US publishes new supply chain


security strategy


The US Department of Homeland Security has published its National Strategy for Global Supply Chain Security. It provides strategic guidance to departments and agencies within the US Government and identifies priorities for further co-operation with stakeholders. Previous attempts by the Department to improve security, notably the 100% container scanning scheme, have been criticised as impractical and the programme has fallen into limbo. In


its latest document, to identify the


Government promises, by integrating security processes into supply chain operations,


areas of


concern and seek to resolve them as early in the process as possible. It will also improve verification


and detection capabilities to identify those goods that are not what they are represented to be, are contaminated, are not declared, or are prohibited and to prevent cargo from being


compromised or misdirected as it moves through the system. It will also enhance security


of infrastructure and transport to protect the supply chain and critical nodes, through limiting access and information to those with legitimate and relevant roles and responsibilities. At the same time it will maximize


the flow of legitimate trade by modernising supply chain infrastructure and processes to meet future market opportunities, develop new mechanisms to facilitate low risk cargo, simplify trade compliance processes and refine incentives to encourage enhanced stakeholder collaboration. And to improve resilience of the


global supply chain it will use risk management principles to identify and protect key assets, infrastructure, and support systems and promote implementation of sustainable operational processes and appropriate redundancy for those assets.


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