Secretariat - Action against Terrorism Unit

Recognizing the vulnerabilities of container shipments and the important role that enhancing container security can play in promoting international trade and economic co-operation, the OSCE participating States adopted a decision at the 2004 Ministerial Council in Sofia (MC Decision 9/04). They undertook a commitment to act without delay in accordance with their domestic legislation and to make the necessary resources available to enhance container security, based on best practices and on norms and standards to be agreed internationally.

As part of the implementation of this decision, the OSCE Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU) organized a two-day Technical Experts Workshop on Container Security in Vienna on 7 and 8 February 2005. The workshop discussed the vulnerability of containers as a potential means of carrying out a terrorist attack and the importance of taking all necessary measures to address this vulnerability. The event also served to acquaint the other international organizations working in this field with the opportunities that the OSCE can provide to promote and facilitate their efforts to strengthen container security.

Welcoming the results of the OSCE Technical Experts Workshop on Container Security and recalling its Decision No. 9/04, the 2005 Ministerial Council in Ljubljana (MC Decision 6/05) decided that all OSCE participating States should, as soon as possible, take the measures recommended in the World Customs Organization Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade, which was adopted in June 2005. The decision also called on the OSCE to promote international co-operation on enhancing container security in close co-ordination with relevant international organizations.

Subsequent to the 2005 workshop and at the International Labour Organization's request, the ATU has helped to promote the ILO/IMO Code of Practice on Security of Ports. A training package related to this code was modified at the ATU's suggestion to include segments on the work of other entities and organizations related to the security of the supply chain, in particular the World Customs Organization (WCO) and its Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade (SAFE), the European Commission (EC), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the United States of America (USA).

The training package was further expanded after a trial training workshop in Singapore in June 2006 and a co-ordination meeting hosted by the WCO in Brussels in July 2006 involving the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the EC. A second training event was organized in Istanbul in December 2006, also involving the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the IAEA, where the discussions confirmed the necessity of an integrated approach to supply chain security.

The OSCE also organized in October 2006 jointly with the ILO a Workshop on Security in Ports, held in Antwerp, Belgium, which focused on the ILO/IMO Code of Practice on Security in Ports. The ATU further provided support to a WCO diagnostics mission in Kazakhstan in November 2006, also related to the implementation of SAFE, and OSCE-WCO National Action Plan Workshops on its implementation took place in Serbia (January/ February 2007) and in Kazakhstan (April 2007).

For more information, please contact the ATU directly.