World Shipping Council hits out at proposed European requirements

27.01.2015

The World Shipping Council has hit out at a European Commission proposal that would require carriers and forwarders to identify the buyer and seller of imported goods in Customs filings.

The WSC said the requirement would mean the carrier or non-vessel-operating common carrier would need to obtain the identity of the buyer or seller of the imported goods from either the importer or consignee.


It pointed out that NVOCCs and carriers are not privy to who may be the underlying buyer or seller of the goods, or when such sales may occur.


Also, the buyer and seller information would be viewed by the shipper as business confidential information that would not be appropriate to release to the carrier, forwarder or consignee.


It added that carriers’ current documentation systems do not even have a field to enter this information.


The WSC added that in the US, this information is provided by the importer and not the carrier or NVOCC.


“If this regulation is implemented as proposed, exporters to the EU should recognise that they will be required to provide the identity of the buyers of their goods to their carrier or NVOCC (or to their consignees) prior to vessel loading, so that this information could be provided by the carrier or NVOCC in its required advance ENS filing,” the WSC said.


The proposed requirement is part of an effort by the commission to rewrite advance cargo data reporting requirements in order to improve data quality for risk assessment.


Part of this includes an examination of whether the rules governing the Entry Summary Declarations (ENS) filing should be amended to obtain additional advance cargo information.


The proposals could be adopted in May this year and take effect in May 2016.


This is not the first time the WSC has expressed its concerns about the proposal. In October last year, the shipping line organisation issued a joint statement with forwarder group Clecat, the European Shippers’ Council and the European Community Shipowners’ Association, condemning the plans.


They said that trying to obtain this information from the NVOCC or carrier would inappropriately make them responsible for providing information that they do not have and for which they have no means of verifying the accuracy.


They would like to see the requirement for the carrier or NVOCC scrapped.


First published on www.lloydslist.com

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