Interview with Mr. Ireland, Head of WCO’s Research Unit

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Hi Robert, and thanks for joining a CBRA interview. Can you please tell first a bit about yourself: who you are and what you do?

Thanks Juha for this opportunity.  I have been Head of the World Customs Organization’s Research Unit since 2009 and have lived in Brussels since 2005.  I am a policy analyst by training and at the WCO I am fortunate to focus on the intriguing intersection of international trade and broader public policy matters.

What does the WCO’s Research Unit do? Are there any specific priorities for the year 2017?

The WCO Research Unit takes an inter-disciplinary approach to researching subjects that directly or indirectly relate to Customs and international trade.  We have two core objectives.  First, we seek to publish high-quality articles in external publications – such as the Global Trade and Customs Journal and the World Customs Journal – and in WCO publications such as the magazine WCO News.  Second, we seek to bring together top academics and Customs officials at international research conferences, such as the annual PICARD Conference.

The Research Unit has tackled an array of topics in recent years, including counter-terrorism, informal trade practices, performance measurement, corruption, money laundering, the implications for Customs and international trade of global warming, the contribution of tobacco control to public health, and wildlife protection.  For 2017, our specific research priorities are e-commerce and Customs practices at fragile borders.

Although cross-border e-commerce is still a small portion of international trade – and smaller than domestic e-commerce -, it continues to grow.  In terms of regulation, Customs administrations are striving to strike the right balance between trade facilitation on the one hand, and revenue collection and illicit trade on the other hand, and the WCO wants to help them get there.  The Research Unit’s e-commerce project will be launched in March 2017 when we will visit China to meet with representatives from Alibaba, China Customs, and other e-commerce stakeholders.

Regarding the fragile borders project, let it never be said that the Research Unit does not take hardship missions – we go where the action is.  While much of the focus on the refugee crisis has been in Europe, our intent is to conduct fieldwork at the source: for instance, in the Middle East, North Africa, and West Africa, and to examine the scope of Customs work in those locales.

WCO just announced that PICARD 2017 Conference will take place in Tunis, 26-28 September this year – great location! Can you please share information about the research themes for the Tunis conference – and why were they selected?

The WCO is very grateful to Tunisia Customs for hosting the next PICARD Conference in Tunis.  In February 2017, the WCO published the PICARD Call for Papers which solicits submissions on four topics: Data Analysis; Trade Facilitation; Security; and Customs-Tax Cooperation.  Data analysis was selected because it is the WCO’s theme for 2017 in recognition of the crucial role it plays in the Customs context, underpinning virtually all functions of a Customs administration. The Customs-Tax Cooperation topic was selected to encourage research on the interaction between these two government functions and because approximately 25 percent of WCO Members are Revenue Authorities – administrations that merged both Customs and Tax.  The other two topics – trade facilitation and security – were selected because they continue to be of great interest to the global Customs community.

 

Thanks a lot for these updates Robert – and see you latest in September in Tunis!

Interview with Mr. Boley, SC Johnson, Switzerland

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17.11.2016: Today’s CBRA Interview with Mr. Bill Boley focuses on supply chain security management at SC Johnson

Hi Bill, and thanks for joining CBRA Interview, here at the TAPA EMEA Conference in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Good afternoon Juha, first I want to thank you and the CBRA team for all the great work you have done for the Supply Chain Security Community over the years. It seems that every time I attend an event CBRA is there…

We first met in 2008, and worked together on the World Bank Supply chain security guidebook, good ol’ times…. In your current job, which supply chain security standards and guidebooks your company follows?

Here at SC Johnson we actually first strive to meet the guidelines laid out in the WCO SAFE Framework of Standards. This is important for us as a global player, global citizen and manufacturer with many supply chains, to do our part in assisting Customs and Law Enforcement Agencies making the Global Supply Chain more safe and secure. At the same time, safe and secure supply chains support the overall optimisation and predictability, helping us to meet the customer and consumer demands. This is why we pursue the various AEO schemes already in place around the world, be it C-TPAT, EU AEO, or Kenyan AEO – in other words, we strive to certify so Customs can focus on the unknowns…  At the warehouse level we have adapted the TAPA FSR standard as the “SCJ standard”. As a global company with many different nationalities, languages and moving parts both upstream and downstream a universal standard written for the practitioners is a key for us. It is also a requirement for our service providers and the transporters moving our product. Soon we will start to give preferential consideration to those service providers who have the TAPA TSR certification, as part of the contract award process.

What about information on actual threats and risks with your global supply chain – which sources you use for that? 

As you are well aware, we are facing many threats around the world: stowaways, weapons and drug smuggling, hijackings, cyber threats particularly with the Internet of Things, and counterfeiting, just to name a few…  At SC Johnson we are fortunate to have a buy-in from our C-Suite on the importance of Supply Chain Security programmes and tools we have been implementing. We have established a Global Security Operations Centre at our World Headquarters and, our Product Supply, Logistics, and Procurement Leaders around the world are very proactive on the topic of supply chain security.  SCJ has actually built an own network of information providers such as BSI, IJet, OSAC, and of course Law Enforcement Agencies, as well as select Customs regimes. The TAPA IIS system, FreightWatch International, and yes, even CBRA, also feed into our information portal. Getting involved at every level to develop a community of interest on supply chain security is a key. As they say, it takes a network to defeat a network.

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Can you share any stories on how these supply chain security standards and risk information have helped you to do your job as a SC Johnson supply chain security manager better?

Yes absolutely, most recently we fell victim to two separate events. One was facility related while the other was on transport. We conducted an analysis on how our mitigation measures failed, and it became evident that we lacked timely, accurate and relevant information to change our measure to adapt to the latest Modus Operandi of the criminal networks. Delivery times to our facilities, pick-ups, chain of custody, liaison with local Law Enforcement and audits of our service providers have been instrumental. In fact, just last week local Law Enforcement in Nigeria was able to interdict and recover a high value shipment, thanks to our close communication and cooperation with the Government of Nigeria.

Yesterday I briefed you about our on-going TAPA study titled “Total Cost of Cargo Theft (TCCT)”… Would your company be interested to join the study?

SC Johnson would be very receptive to taking part of this study. First, as we have suffered Supply chain losses there is a misunderstanding on what is covered by insurance or not. And, second, if we can then place a more precise value or declaration on what those stolen finished goods will cost outside of the retail value, that would be great. Loss of customers or at least their confidence in a non-delivery, recovering our full costs of production, investigative costs, etc. are just some of the cascading effects and costs we encounter.

Great news, thanks a lot Bill, for both the interview and for agreeing to join the TCCT-study! Juha.

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