C. OTHER LEGAL AND REGULATORY
DEVELOPMENTS AFFECTING
TRANSPORTATION
This section highlights some key issues in the field of
maritime security and safety that may be of particular
interest to parties engaged in international trade and
transport. These include developments relating to
maritime and supply-chain security and some issues
related to maritime piracy.65
1. Maritime and supply-chain security
There have been a number of developments in
relation to existing maritime and supply-chain security
standards that had been adopted under the auspices
of various international organizations such as the
World Customs Organization (WCO), IMO, and ISO,
as well as at the European Union level and in the
United States, both important trade partners for many
developing countries.
(a) World Customs Organization Framework
of Standards to Secure and Facilitate
Global Trade
As noted in previous editions of the Review of
Maritime Transport, in 2005, WCO had adopted the
Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate
Global Trade (SAFE),66 with the objective of developing
a global supply-chain framework. The Framework
provides a set of standards and principles that must
be adopted as a minimum threshold by national
customs administrations.67 The Framework has been
updated and has evolved over the years as a dynamic
instrument, aiming to balance “facilitation and controls
while ensuring the security of the global trade supply
chain”.68 It is a widely accepted instrument that serves
as an important reference point for customs and for
economic operators alike.69
As an important feature of SAFE, authorized economic
operators (AEOs)70 are private parties that have been
accredited by national customs administrations as
compliant with WCO or equivalent supply-chain
security standards. Special requirements have to
be met by AEOs in respect of physical security of
premises, hidden camera surveillance and selective
staffing and recruitment policies. In return, AEOs
are typically rewarded by way of trade-facilitation
benefits, such as faster clearance of goods and fewer
physical inspections. Over the course of recent years,
a number of mutual recognition agreements (MRAs)71
of respective AEOs have been adopted by customs
administrations, usually on a bilateral basis. However,
it is hoped that these will, in due course, form the
basis for multilateral agreements at the subregional
and regional level.72 As of March 2014, 26 AEO
programmes had been established in 53 countries73
and 11 more countries planned to establish them in
the near future.74
Capacity-building assistance under the WCO
Columbus Programme remains a vital part of the
SAFE implementation strategy. Implementation is
further supported by customs and private sector
working bodies established within the WCO secretariat
and working in close collaboration to maintain the
relevance of SAFE in a changing trade environment.
More recently, a topic of increasing concern for
customs and trade worldwide has been that of data
quality (WCO, 2013). Data is used by customs for
various purposes, including security risk analyses,
admissibility decisions, trade-facilitation measures,
revenue collection, resource allocation, coordinated
border management, as well as to compile
statistics used by Governments in the context of
macroeconomic policy decisions. Thus, in cases of
misdeclaration of customs information, be it wilful or
accidental, poor quality data could lead to customs
taking incorrect decisions and all the parties involved
facing negative consequences. In this context, an
expert group was established at WCO composed of
customs and private sector representatives who will
work together to find ways to improve data quality,
compile best practices developed by customs, other
government agencies and trade actors, as well as
analyse instruments that aim to ensure data quality
developed by other international organizations.75