Washington D.C.
Mr Doering started off by surveying positive developments in global trade volumes over the past few decades. All players worldwide had benefited from this aspect of globalisation, even though the gap between rich and poor had widened further. This increase in trade volumes also meant greater dependence from the infrastructure required. The latter appeared to be extremely vulnerable, particularly in the light of terrorist threats.
Especially since 11 September 2001 many initiatives aimed at improving transport links and means of transportation were forthcoming and had been implemented. Meanwhile, however, there was an ever increasing danger that the valuable treasure of freedom was more and more undermined by overzealous attempts to protect it. Further, many schemes entailed costs that could no longer be justified by minimal gains in security.
Most recently, this trend of “overprotection“ has reached another quality in a new Act passed by the US Congress. This new piece of legislation lays down that all containers to be shipped into the United States are to be subject to comprehensive scrutiny by way of a scan in their port of origin by 2012. This measure goes beyond even the far-reaching recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
Factually, this new Act shifts the burden of protecting US national security on to its trading partners. The US would neither share in the cost nor run cargo security checks for goods to be sent abroad from American ports.
But this Act not only entails far-reaching and one-sided consequences for trading partners of the US. In addition, many details are really half-baked. It is absolutely unclear how the data collected would be handled and matters of protection, storage and transmission of data are left absolutely open. Enormous difficulties would also come up on the technical side, because the available technology to be employed for these scanning operations is highly liable to breakdown and not really fit for massive use in a sea port. In addition, this container scanning operation involves tremendous cost and much time. Security experts put the cost for any port implementing these legal requirements at an estimated $30 million. Assuming the improbable and considering permanent fault-free operation of all equipment, a device would need 30 minutes just to scan one container and evaluate the data collected. A burden of this dimension on the transport of goods is thus really capable of stifling parts of world trade.
Concluding his address, Mr. Doering said that the costs of overprotection represented a considerable threat to international trade. Any security gains were totally unrelated to the cost incurred. This spiral of overprotection has got out of control and it has to be stopped urgently in the interest of all those involved.
The debate afterwards turned into a very constructive discussion of this issue among representatives of the Administration and from think tanks as well as scientists. Joint approaches were suggested that take in both the security aspect as well as the needs of the trade in goods in equal measure.
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