DOTCOM waste project (2016-2017)

DotComWaste“Development Of Tools to Counter illegal Management and trade of Waste”.

DOTCOMWASTE URL: http://www.dotcomwaste.eu/


Background:

The DOTCOM Waste Project – Development Of Tools to COunter illegal Management and trade of Waste – is a response to the need to address the negative consequences of illegal management and trade of waste. Illegal management and trade of waste causes significant damage to the environment, undermines the health of people and distorts fair competition. Dealing with these negative consequences require cost-effective ways to detect, investigate and prosecute waste crime activities. Waste crime is a challenging issue to combat because of its cross-border nature. But, lack of international collaboration hinders concerted efforts to detect, investigate and prosecute waste crimes.

Aim:

The DOTCOM Waste project seeks to increase the capabilities of a broad range of government agencies and authorities – especially police, customs, port authorities, environmental agencies and prosecutors – to fight cross-border waste crime more cost-effectively. To achieve this objective, the project aims to increase the stakeholders’ understanding of current waste crime trends and to identify and share good practices for detecting, investigating and prosecuting waste crime activities. The project will translate this knowledge into training material and tools and will promote training sessions to help key stakeholders integrate good practices into their day-to-day operations. The project’s underlying objective is to intensify international collaboration through development and implementation of new mechanisms for information exchange, technology transfer and operational coordination.

Main activities and expected outcomes:
  1. DOTCOM starts with data gathering and analyses of trade patterns and management practices that characterise the current illegal waste management and trading in Europe and in selected destination countries and regions (in particular in China and West Africa). The analysis will reveal the riskiest aspects of waste trading and management that call for further government attention most urgently. The project will also deliver a Compendium of Good Practices, a suite of solutions designed to help authorities detect, investigate and prosecute waste-related crimes.
  2. The project will assess training needs and operational requirements of government agencies that play a role in the fight against illegal management and trade of waste. Identification of the needs and requirements allows the project to produce relevant new training material and operational tools.
  3. The DOTCOM Waste project will also support international collaboration and capacity building. Two multidisciplinary four-days-long training sessions will be organised, one in Europe and one in China, on specific aspects of illegal waste-related activities along the EU-West Africa and EU-China routes. In parallel, e-learning and online seminars will be made available on the project website. Capacity building activities will be targeted to law enforcement agencies, customs and port authorities, environmental agencies and prosecutors. Training of trainers will ensure the wider use and dissemination of the tools and materials developed.
  4. The consortium will actively promote the DOTCOM Waste project in order to ensure wide visibility and uptake of the project’s findings and outcomes. The promotion and dissemination of the results will be achieved through different channels, especially through the project website, social media advertising campaign, newsletters, and the final conference.
Project partners:
  • United Nations University (UNU) (Project Coordinator) – Germany
  • Cross-Border Research Association (CBRA) – Switzerland
  • Compliance and Risks (C&R) – Ireland
  • TECOMS – Italy
  • Ports Environmental Network-Africa (PENAf) – Ghana
  • Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (BCRC China) – China
  • Basel Convention Regional Centre for West Africa (BCRC West Africa) – Nigeria
  • Public Prosecutor Office of Bari (project associate) – Italy
Project duration:

2 years, from January 2016 to December 2017

More information at:

http://www.dotcomwaste.eu/

This project has been funded by the European Commission Directorate-General

Migration and Home Affairs under Grant Agreement Number HOME/2014/ISFP/AG/EFCE/7205

EUflag

Egypt Chemicals Supply Chain Security –project (2015)

Case study development and workshop facilitation. Project commissioned by the US State Department, Chemical Security Program.
Date: 1.2-31.5.2015http://www.csp-state.net/

FP7-project CORE (2014-2018)

fp7_core“Consistently Optimised Resilient Secure Global Supply-Chains”.

Grant agreement no: 603993. Date: 1.5.2014-30.4.2018
http://www.coreproject.eu/


FP7-project CORE is one of the largest European research and demonstration projects. Around 70 Partners aim to demonstrate that supply chain security and trade facilitation can go hand in hand, building upon proven concepts from previous R&D projects such as CASSANDRA, INTEGRITY, LOGSEC, CONTAIN, EUROSKY and SAFEPOST.

The project is strongly supported by a number of EU-Directorates, particularly, DG-TAXUD (e-Customs and customs risk management policy), DG-HOME (security policy), DG-MOVE (e-freight/e-maritime and land transport security policies) and DG-JRC (scientific support in policy implementation), and is managed by the Research Executive Agency. The daily management of this 4-year project is done by an Executive Committee consisting of the European Shippers’ Council, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO and BMT Group Ltd. International trade is surrounded by commercial and societal risks. CORE starts from the belief that commercial and societal objectives can be better balanced and even be optimized simultaneously by applying the right innovative concepts.

In order to better cope with the societal risks and challenges, Europe developed ‘rules of the game’, economic operators in trade have to comply to these rules. Control authorities such as customs help shaping, supervising and enforcing them. The development of these set of rules and regulation has evolved in a ‘silo’ approach, resulting in unnecessary and disturbing interventions in the supply chain and high compliance costs for trusted and compliant companies.

Risk management: On the business side, commercial actors along the chain manage the associated commercial risks by a portfolio of transfer, tolerate, terminate and actively treat or mitigate these risks. Many of them have sophisticated strategies so transfer risks and control the most pertinent enterprise risks effectively, but they lack capabilities to seriously consider deploying collaborative chain control measures, despite the fact that it often provides a sound commercial business case to deploy them.

Within CORE, the partners have committed to work together with the objective of maximizing the speed and reliability as well as minimizing the cost of fulfilling global trade transactions, making supply chains more transparent and resilient and bringing security to the highest level. CORE will show how protecting and securing the Global Supply Chain, and reducing its vulnerability to disruption – whether caused by organized criminal groups, by terrorist or other forms of undesirable or illegal activity – can be done while guaranteeing the promotion of a timely and efficient flow of legitimate commerce through the European Union and other nations around the world.

CORE will demonstrate that this can be done while at the same time offering tangible benefits to involved stakeholders – transaction, transport, regulatory and financial operators – thus facilitating its adoption by commercial entities. Within many demonstrators, a challenge is capturing high quality data along the transport chain and enabling data sharing. This would allow businesses along the supply chain to better control their risks and optimize their processes. On the other hand, control agencies like Customs can improve their risk analysis allowing for alternative ways of supervision – and, by doing this, to reduce physical checks.

The four main areas: CORE will address in an integrated and stakeholder-friendly way in four main areas:

  1. End-to-end Supply Chain Security fostering standardization, harmonization and mutual recognition;
  2. Controlled global visibility of security risks and other supply chain threats and their impact on supply chain flows around the world;
  3. Real-time Lean Agile Resilient Green Optimized supply chain solutions offering a highly innovative approach to designing supply chains resilient in real-time to major disturbances caused by high impact events; and
  4. New and innovative supervision models for trusted and secure supply chains.

To reach the challenging target, various demonstrations transporting goods with different trade compliance requirements, with different transport modes and from different geographic scopes are included in the project. CORE will focus on demonstrating practical solutions to be implemented within the current legislative framework. Thus, the results also provide input for EU policies or drafting future legislation.

More information at: http://www.coreproject.eu/

FP7-project CWIT (2013-2015)

f7_cwit“Countering WEEE illegal trade”.

Grant agreement no: 312605. Date: 1.9.2013-31.8.2015.
CWIT URL: http://www.cwitproject.eu/


Summary:

The research and development project Countering WEEE Illegal Trade (CWIT) will provide a set of recommendations to the European Commission and law enforcement authorities that will assist them in countering the illegal trade of WEEE ( Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), also known as ‘e-waste’ within and from Europe.  Funded by the European Union’s Framework Program 7, this 2 year security research project brings together a group of experts skilled in the fields of e-waste analysis, crime analysis, supply chain security, and database management.

Only around 3 million tons of the estimated total of 8 million tons in WEEE was officially collected, treated, and reported to authorities across Europe in 2010. E-waste contains materials such as gold, copper, and palladium which makes it very valuable on the black market; attracting not just illegal single operators but serious organised crime groups.

However e-waste also contains hazardous substances such as mercury and cadmium. Therefore illegal e-waste handling, often in poorer countries, leads to huge health issues and environmental pollution.  At the same time, European Union Member States are losing a vast amount of rare earth metals and other important minerals due to increasing illicit activities, poor compliance rates, and limited enforcement activities in eWaste.

These issues call for increased attention and enhanced enforcement in the context of WEEE trade, transport, and treatment.  The CWIT project, has been established to identify the policy, regulatory, procedural, and technical gaps as observed in today’s business environment, and to suggest tangible improvements.  The CWIT consortium is composed of partners that have a great deal of expertise on the WEEE area, crime analysis and the management of large databases, it comprises  Interpol, WEEE Forum aisbl, United Nations University (UNU), Zanasi & Partners (Z&P), Compliance and Risks (C2P), Cross-border Research Association (CBRA) and United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI).

 

Publications and presentations:

Forthcoming: Luda di Cortemiglia, V. and Hintsa, J. (2014), “Coordinating research efforts”, in Pink, G. and White, R. (Eds.), Environmental Crime and Collaborative State Intervention”, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire.

Hintsa, J. and Wieting, M. (2014), “A new research protocol to develop multiple case studies on illicit activities in trade, logistics, processing and disposal of WEEE – waste in electrical and electronic equipment”, Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics, September 18-19, 2014, Hamburg.

Study on “Revenue and tax collection data model for Customs administrations globally” (2015)

Study commissioned by the Swiss Customs Administration. 1.12.2014-31.8.2015.

Study on “Future air cargo screening technologies and research funding opportunities” (2014-2015)

Study commissioned by the European Express Association. 1.10.2014-31.5.2015.

Study on “The import VAT and duty de-minimis in the European Union – Where should they be and what will be the impact?” (2013-2014)

Study commissioned by the European Express Association 15.3.2013–15.10.2014.
Final report available at: 
CDS-Report-Jan2015-publishing-final

Thailand Europe Cooperation TEC-II, PDSC (2012-2013)

thailand_europe_cooperation_tec_II_pdscImplementation of international standards on supply chain security leading to a secure trade environment and to increased trade facilitation

(Activity Code: TRA 4).
AEO MRA project duration with Dr. Hintsa: 1 November 2012-30 October 2013.


Summary:

The study has the following two main objectives:

•    Assist Royal Thai Customs, RTC, to improve the popularity of the Thai AEO program among the economic operators.

•    Assist RTC in preparing for AEO MRA negotiations, primarily with the European Union / European Commission Directorate General of Customs and Taxation (EC DG TAXUD).

 

Publications and presentations:

Forthcoming: Hintsa J. 2014. Final report on AEO – MRA study for RTC. Thailand Europe Cooperation TEC-II, PDSC. Implementation of international standards on Supply Chain Security leading to a secure Trade Environment and to increased Trade Facilitation (Activity Code : TRA 4). Bangkok, Thailand.

Presentation available at:
http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/thailand/documents/thailande_eu_coop/1_eu_aeo_program_en.pdf  [Accessed 6 September 2014]

Trade Facilitation Master Plan for Abu Dhabi Customs Administration (2012-2013)

abu_dhabi_customsCBRA participated as the trade facilitation working group facilitator in ADLAP-project during years 2012-2013.


Summary:

The goal of improving Trade Facilitation is to help make trade across borders more efficient, ensuring safety and security. Trade facilitation impacts the physical movement of goods and also the associated information flows. Through improved trade facilitation logistics, companies and traders will gain higher predictability, higher speed of operations and lower transaction costs. This results in more competitive imports and exports on global markets. For the public sector, it means enhanced revenue collection, better use of resources and increased trader compliance.

Current situation in Abu Dhabi: The ADLAP study has identified a range of issues experienced by logistics and trade companies in Abu Dhabi relating to delays and high administrative costs in cross-border operations. There are limitations in the transparency, standardization and harmonization of cross-border regulations and requirements.

Working Group Outcomes and Strategic Actions: Led by Abu Dhabi Customs Administration (ADCA), Trade Facilitation Working Group utilised the United Nations Trade Facilitation Implementation Guide (TFIG) to help generate its Action Plan recommendations. These actions include but are not limited to the introduction by ADCA of single window web-services, the reduction of procedural obstacles, the introduction of an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Program, the enhancement of customs risk management capabilities and the creation of new knowledge on key performance indicators and measures. The working group will continue to ensure the necessary public-private sector interaction to execute these plans.

Four strategic themes are identified within the Action Plan:

•    Creating greater transparency in cross-border logistics and trade information. A high degree of transparency, clarity and ease-of-access to governmental information related to cross-border logistics and trade is required. The working group will support ADCA to further identify information gaps and in the development of a single point cross-border logistics and trade web-portal.

•    Reducing border crossing times. Fast and predictable border crossing times are required including rapid customs release times with high safety and security standards and practices. The group will work with ADCA, for example, on the introduction of an advanced cargo information scheme and will organize dialogue between stakeholders to better understand the availability of pre-arrival and pre-departure data.

•    Reducing administrative costs. Low administrative costs are essential including personnel and data management costs for logistics and trade to comply with governmental cross-border regulations and requirements. One example action is to design and implement a complete transactional single window web-service covering all data and document exchange between logistics and trade and all relevant government agencies.

•    Organizing sustainable public-private partnership. There is a need for a strong, dynamic and sustainable public-private partnership arrangement between customs, logistics and trade in Abu Dhabi. As a development of the working group, ADCA will seek to establish a permanent Trade Facilitation Partnership Forum. The working group will help draft a MoU between public and private sector organizations setting out objectives, principles, roles and responsibilities.

 

Publications and presentations:

Forthcoming: