The 13th OAS International Seminar, held in Brazil on March 14 and 2024, 17, put the issue of security and trade facilitation in the region on the table. The key meeting brought together 33 countries, 500 representatives of institutions and XNUMX Brazilian companies with transnational impact, in São Paulo, where progress was made with concrete demonstrations of progress in this regard.
There is agreement that the 10th OAS International Seminar was a great success, as it allowed for the “consolidation” and “confidence” for the cooperation of interconnected work between public services and the private sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Brazil also contributed to giving a new impetus to the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Program, to Electronic Commerce and to Coordinated Border Management: the integrated AEO was launched, the new voluntary compliance program for national companies that use cross-border electronic commerce to sell their products was established - called “Programa Remessa Conforme” - and decisions were adopted for the coordination of border control bodies: Customs, Agriculture and Health.
This positive signal from the 10th OAS International Seminar responds to the unique call of the Procomex Institute and the Federal Revenue Service, with strong support from the Organization of American States, the World Bank and the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, to name a few. It is in this framework that the constant driving force of the Brazilian initiative to reduce poverty, a common and priority issue in all countries of the region, fits in.
OAS and GCF Program
But this goal of finding better ways through joint action aimed at stimulating trade is not new. In 2024, the Procomex Institute, an association of more than 20 members of the Brazilian private sector, will celebrate its 130th anniversary, as will the 10th anniversary of the alliance between the Procomex Institute and the Federal Revenue Service, which seeks to implement these improvements by promoting the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO). This Program seeks to ensure that companies that demonstrate improved security in the logistics chain benefit from clearance management, since their collaboration achieves the goal of reducing risks and facilitating legitimate trade.
César García, Senior Consultant of the Procomex Institute, He recalled that first, the aim was to strengthen the implementation of this instrument in Brazil; after that, “we decided to take another step and bring the Authorized Economic Operator to the region,” he said. Thus, the Sao Paulo Declaration (2018) was signed, incorporating other customs authorities. Later, other government control agencies were introduced, for which an addendum to the Sao Paulo Declaration was signed in 2019.
García added: “Today -2024- we are here: at the beginning of the road. We need to align what the path forward will be like. Over these years, Procomex improved communication between government agencies and created contact networks for them to talk. The idea of the Impulso Group was launched to work together with Customs, Agricultural Agencies, Health and Immigration/Security, mainly; to this end, 17 meetings were held to discuss risk management, establishing priorities ranging from homogenization, electronic data transformation and joint inspections in a coordinated manner. Basically, work was done on the heart and brain of a border.”
He also highlighted that work was being done on a risk matrix on the subject of “smuggling,” a generic concept that public bodies must harmonize in order to act in an aligned manner in the face of a threatening situation such as this. “Risk management addressed correctly will facilitate efficiency and security,” he said.
Erika Medina, Institute Senior Consultant Procomex, He agreed. “The alignment between the control bodies will have a positive impact on reducing commercial times and costs, increasing trade and improving the monetary value of the goods that are purchased by people.”
Cross-border e-commerce
Another topic of the 19th International Seminar is Cross-Border Electronic Commerce. The global growth of this phenomenon has overwhelmed the usual operations of foreign trade, generating challenges for countries' customs, as well as opportunities for operators in the global economy. Faced with this growing commercial environment - supported by technological developments and the emergence of the Covid-2023 pandemic - Brazil sought a way forward to reshape the landscape and ensure compliance with security requirements. Thus, in August XNUMX, the Federal Revenue Service created the "Remessa Conforme" compliance program, which promises tax savings and accelerates the process of importing goods into the country.
The results of this effort were conveyed at the International Seminar. In the words of Erika Medina: “Brazil shared how it is working with the Remessa Program to meet the challenge of e-commerce: a practice that is in line with the OAS Program based on trust, compliance with requirements and secure chains.”
He considered that “the exchange of concrete experiences in this space for dialogue at the public and private level has been part of the main conclusions of the event in view of the need to have a holistic vision to standardize, modernize and facilitate trade.”
Strategic Safe Trade
These technological advances have undoubtedly facilitated international trade, but they bring with them a series of threats that can impact human life. In light of this, Marcelo Martinez, Security Project Manager of the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (CICTE) of the Organization of American States (OAS) stressed the need to understand strategic trade.
“These two words can be confused by the public-private sectors as strategic products. In view of this, strategic trade is born from the global concern for peace and the need to raise awareness about not building, materializing, developing and transporting weapons of mass destruction.” The United Nations has worked in this regard on international instruments, which regulate that countries commit to not developing this type of weapons of mass destruction.
However, Martinez clarified that there was a “legal loophole” in this legislation, as it eliminated the responsibility of the private sector. “In 2004, in response to various incidents related to precursors of weapons of mass destruction, the United Nations Security Council issued Resolution 1540.” One of the pillars on which this effort rests is the “participation of all sectors at a national level.”
This means - he continued - that the resolution (not an agreement) requires that UN Member States implement mandatory mechanisms to involve the industry and operators linked to strategic trade.
Taking this into account, Martinez said that the event in San Pablo has developed fundamental themes: the Authorized Economic Operator Program and Coordinated Border Management. What is the relationship with strategic trade to prevent the proliferation of products of mass destruction? “The relationship is that both instruments directly comply with security standards to prevent strategic materials from reaching non-state actors who could use them in weapons of mass destruction.”
He explained that, on the one hand, the Authorized Economic Operator promotes the Know your client and the Due diligence, an important consideration in identifying the final consumer, which is basically the basis of strategic trade; on the other hand, the AEO encourages closer coordination with other government agencies that intervene at the border with a view to aligning their procedures at border posts to ensure an efficient response to supply chain security challenges, in line with Pillar 3 of the SAFE Framework. “This is coordinated border management.”
The CICTE representative also said that the OAS and Coordinated Border Management are relevant instruments with a consistent risk management approach to address security threats such as smuggling and drug trafficking crimes.
In line with this, the Sao Paulo International Seminar brought together the public and private sectors on the basis of trade facilitation and security. “Two concepts that go hand in hand to ensure trade control.”
To this end, the 2023 edition launched the “Drive Group” and the “Technical Committees” with representatives from the countries, who established priorities, choosing to deepen risk management.
The 2024 edition focused on risk management and information exchange, establishing goals, priorities and themes.
How do we proceed now?
Much remains to be done. Martinez was emphatic: “Procomex is also working on a pilot project with the MERCOSUR countries to map out what the border, border coordination and land transport are like. All of this will be taken to the region and we hope to have more tangible results in 2025.”
Y Enrique Canon, Private Consultant from UruguayHe also said: “The future is very interesting, to the extent that there is political will to advance in this direction, Latin America will improve its intraregional trade, impacting the development of the countries.”
(*) Photos: Customs News
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