EU Report Kicks against US's 100% Container Scanning
A recently published European Commission Taxation and Customs Union report which presented the results of studies on the impact of the US 100% scanning law has concluded that the US requirement for 100% scanning of US-bound maritime containers at foreign ports will be costly and severely disrupt transport and trade without proven security benefits. The EU advocates an alternative approach based on multilayered risk management.
The studies have confirmed that implementation by the EU would have serious repercussions for European and global maritime transport and trade as follows:
- A total of EUR430 million would be required for investments for scanning and radiation detection and operational costs in European ports would rise by more than EUR200 million annually, including expenditure for 2200 extra staff.
- Direct transport costs of US-bound consignments would increase by about 10% and ports unable to implement 100% scanning would lose access to the US market.
- Rough calculations suggest that the worldwide loss due to the scanning law could be in the order of EUR17 billion. If, following the US model, 100% scanning were replicated on a world scale to address the 'bomb in the box' as a worldwide threat, the annual welfare loss for the world might reach EUR150 billion.