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Despite the statement by the
Minister of Transport, Datuk Seri Dr
Ling Liong Sik that there would no
more discussion with US Customs on
the Container Security Initiative
(CSI), recent reports from
Washington said US Customs plans to
send senior officials to Kuala
Lumpur in the coming weeks to reopen
talks on Malaysia's potential
involvement.
"We have started the screening
process and any relevant information
we find will be passed on to the US
authorities," Dr Ling said after a
post-Cabinet briefing at his office.
The Minister added that the
screening process would be conducted
by local authorities and no US
Customs officials would be posted in
the country.
But in a recent comment, Patricia
McCauley, director of the CSI Task
Force, said: "We are sensitive to
Malaysia's interest in CSI, and
because of that awareness assistant
commissioner Donald Shruhan will be
visiting Malaysia to open
discussions, probably in the next
three to four weeks."
The US Customs attaché based in
Singapore, Peter Gravas, who has
been involved in the initial
discussion with the Ministry of
Transport and the Royal Malaysian
Customs & Exercise Department, is
also likely to join the delegation.
Ms McCauley denied reports that
official talks on CSI had already
taken place and Malaysia had spurned
the US overtures.
Ms McCauley said that Malaysian
ports had not been included in the
top 20 global ports singled out for
inclusion in CSI when the list was
first drawn up.
Meanwhile, the European commission
has objected to moves by US
government to offer incentives to
ports that sign the contentious
Container Security Initiative (CSI)
and penalizing those that either do
not join in, or are too small to
take part.
The Commission, which has complained
about the approach taken by the US
Customs in concluding bilateral
agreements with some of the members
countries of the Commission rather
than dealing with the Commission as
a single entity, cargoes processed
in Europe are typically expected to
enjoy quicker customs clearance in
the US.
Conversely, cargoes from
non-participating ports could suffer
processing delays.
The fear is that US-bound boxes will
increasingly be routed through ports
such as Rotterdam, which will both
create bottlenecks and adversely
affect other port sector players.
Among the countries in the EC which
has not signed the CSI is the United
Kingdom which declared recently that
it would only join "if it judged
such a move to be in its interest,
and only if the outcome was a fair
and level playing field".
The European Commission is said to
be considering launching
infringement procedures against
countries that have signed up to the
US Container Security Initiative, a
group that includes the Netherlands,
Germany, Belgium and France.
Commission officials believe that
bilateral deals put ports in
non-signatory states at a
disadvantage, and will increase both
port congestion and costs.
So far, 13 ports in eight countries
in Europe and Asia have decided to
participate in the initiative, under
which American customs officials are
at liberty to inspect boxes in local
ports before they are loaded for the
US. |
