Ms. Nicole Maric and Mr. Ketil Ottersen of UNODC were kind enough to share their views on the Container Control Program – originally for the CBRA blog on supply chain security and trade facilitation. Regarding the CORE-project, this is useful information at least for the Risk-cluster, as well as for Demos in the maritime sector.

What is the Container Control Program, CCP, about? More than 600 million global container movements are reported annually. Research indicates that only 2% of those containers are physically inspected. In this regard, the CCP has an important role to play to address the risks and to facilitate legitimate trade. The selection and inspection of containers remains a great challenge for law enforcement agencies due to the high volume of containers being transported around the world. The Programme establishes Port Control Units, PCUs, in selected sea and dry ports by integrating various enforcement bodies into a single representative unit. The units are trained to identify, select and control high risk containers, based upon risk analysis and other modern risk management profiling techniques. Selected officials from various law enforcement agencies working in a port are trained in areas of transnational organized crime, including drug and precursor trafficking, counterfeit goods, environmental trafficking, as well as in security-related issues, such as smuggling of strategic goods, explosive precursors, nuclear material and weapons. Their systematic cooperation clearly increases the potential of all entities involved in risk profiling.

Origin, funding, 2015 focus and future plans with CCP? The Programme started in 2004, developed jointly by UNODC and the World Customs Organization, WCO, with four pilot countries, Ecuador, Senegal, Ghana and Pakistan. The activities are funded through voluntary contributions by Member States. Our three biggest donors are in alphabetical order: Canada, EU and US. The focus in 2015 will be environmental crime and the expansion of the programme activities to the air cargo area. We are currently working in the border management area with 51 countries and are targeting to reach a total of 75 countries before 2020.

More information on the Container Control Program can be found at: https://www.unodc.org/ropan/en/BorderControl/container-control/ccp.html

The original CBRA blog entry can be found at: Container Control Program