BizCLIR

Author (s):

USAID's FASTrade Project

Date:

September 2004

Publication (if applicable):

N/A

Abstract (if Available):

After the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the U.S. government instituted a number of security and enforcement measures. Among the more significant were those implemented by the U.S. Customs Service to protect U.S. borders from additional acts of terrorism. Actions taken by Customs and other agencies of the U.S. government to ?push out U.S. borders? clearly had a severe impact on global travel and trade, including the disruption of international supply chains. The reaction of the international trade community was mixed. On the one hand, there was clear understanding of the U.S. imperative to improve its border security. On the other hand, there was deep concern among U.S. trading partners and multinational corporations that the actions taken and proposed would cause confusion and delay. Developing countries expressed fear that a disproportionate share of the costs would fall on them by adding supply chain security to the list of measures demanded by their trading partners in order to participate in the global trading network. The burden and costs for improving supply chain security fall primarily on the private sector. Importers, consolidators, warehouse operators, foreign trade zones, custom house brokers, freight forwarders, port authorities, and carriers in every mode of transport bear the individual and collective burden of supply chain security in their own domains and as cargo and conveyances change hands from point of manufacture to the final destination. Multinational companies from Japan, the European Union (EU), and the U.S. that account for the bulk of international trade face the largest share of costs. However, many of these companies look at requirements for increased security of global supply chains as not only a cost but also as an opportunity to combine security and trade facilitation processes. Integrating supply chain security and facilitation measures now seems to be the prevalent approach adopted by the world?s largest multinationals.br />

URL:

http://staging.bizclir.browsermedia.com/galleries/publications/Intenational%20Supply%20Chain%20Security%20and%20its%20Impact%20on%20Developing%20Countries.pdf