Improving the Border Agency Cooperation
Among the OIC Member States for Facilitating Trade
11
There is no standard definition of BAC, and the concept is in fact known by many headings as
shown in Table below. The World Customs Organization talks about Coordinated Border
Management (CBM), the European Union about Integrated Border Management (IBM), the
World Bank about Collaborative Border Management (CBM) and the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) about Comprehensive Border Management (CBM).
Common to all approaches is that they seek to coordinate activities across a range of border
control agencies.5 They might slightly differ in terms of scope and priorities, but these
approaches align with the notion of Border Agency Cooperation, a term used in the WTO’s
Trade Facilitation Agreement.6
Table 1. Concepts similar to Border Agency Cooperation
Concept Definition Source
Coordinated
Border
Management
(CBM)
“A coordinated approach by border control agencies, both
domestic and international, in the context of seeking
greater efficiencies over managing trade and trade flows,
while maintaining a balance with compliance
requirements.”
WCO 2014
Integrated
Border
Management
(IBM)
“Covers co-ordination and co-operation among the
relevant authorities and agencies involved in border
security and trade facilitation to establish effective,
efficient and integrated border management systems, in
order to reach the common goal of open but controlled
and secure borders”
European
Commission
2007
Collaborative
Border
Management
(CBM)
”In collaborative border management a virtual border
encompasses the entire transport and supply chain,
assessing goods and passengers for admissibility and
clearance in advance of arriving at the physical border.
Border management agencies work together, sharing
information. As they gather, collate, and share more data,
a complete view of risks and opportunities emerges,
encouraging a knowledge sharing culture and a border
management strategy built on proactive decisionmaking.”
McLinden
et al. (2011)
/ World
Bank
Comprehensive
Border
Management
(CBM)
”OSCE uses the term Comprehensive Border Management,
which does not embrace the totalities of either Integrated
or Coordinated Border Management, although it does
contain elements of both as they apply to all 56
participating States.”
OSCE 2012
Source: WCO 2014, European Commission 2007, World Bank 2011, OSCE 2012
While BAC can take place at three levels, intra-agency, inter-agency and international, as will
be discussed in chapter 1.2.2, the main focus of this report is on the last one, international BAC
(iBAC).
5 Polner, 2011
6 WTO TFA Article 8 on Border Agency Cooperation (BAC) -
(accessed 29 August2016).