Facilitating trade through inter-agency cooperation

This article summarises particular elements of a research study that was commissioned by the Australian international trade and transport industry. The research study reviews global government initiatives that are designed to secure international supply chains from terrorist and other threats while facilitating legitimate trade. In particular, it reviews those schemes which involve the accreditation of members of the international trading community that meet security and other regulatory requirements, and identifies options for their application in Australia. In doing so, it has sought the views of industry and has focused on ways to maximise the relevance of such schemes, minimise compliance costs and ensure against the possible erosion of Australian industry's competitive position in the global marketplace. This paper focuses on a key issue that has arisen during the course of the research, that is, the scope for inter-agency recognition of an entity's status such as that of 'trusted trader'. It argues for greater inter-agency cooperation, and concludes that an agency's assessment of a trader that is seeking special status should take into account the trader's existing accreditation with other agencies.