Improving the Border Agency Cooperation

Among the OIC Member States for Facilitating Trade

communication due to language issues: many Lao officers can speak Vietnamese, but very few

Vietnamese officers can speak Lao. Inadequate infrastructure (vehicle channels, signage,

offices) and working equipment (scanners, CCTV, etc.) is hampering further development of

this border crossing point. Vietnam and Laos have separately financed, built-up and supplied

infrastructure and facilities of ICS and CCA for their working officers.

With positive experiences thus far, the cooperation is set to continue and widen. A number of

activities have been planned for the foreseeable future. There will be an analysis of the type of

language training appropriate for the border crossing point personnel, and the training is to be

arranged already in 2016. Also technical assistance training is planned and common

examination standards for agencies working at the Laobao-Dansavanh border crossing point

will be drafted. Under consideration is the viability of rationalising the current legal

framework to create a complete, consolidated set of inter-agency agreements, as is the support

for the development of an inter-agency arrangement on human health inspection and

quarantine.

2.5.

Examples of current trends in iBAC globally

Above three highly illustrative case studies of international BAC on three continents are

discussed. However, there are many more examples of the current BAC trends across the

world, therefore brief examples that highlight various key aspects of international BAC are

presented here. An example of Kenya and the Netherlands illustrates the opportunities with

remote iBAC, and an example of SIECA in Central America illustrates a comprehensive regional

approach to iBAC.

2.5.1.

Overseas iBAC

Cross-border arrangements can also be made between countries that do not share a common

border. An illustrative example comes from a specific commodity, namely fresh flowers

exported from Kenya to the Netherlands. Details are given below.

Kenya

–

Netherlands

This example is about the time-sensitive air transport of fresh cut flowers from Kenya to the

Netherlands, from where the flowers are sold to the European markets. The air trade lane from

Kenya to the Netherlands runs from farms in various regions in Kenya, via Nairobi Airport and

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, to FloraHolland in Aalsmeer, and transports

flowers for commercial partners in the FloraHolland cooperation. It takes on average four days to

ship the flowers from Kenyan growers to European customers.

Many government agencies, both in Kenya and the Netherlands, are interested in the flower trade

and carry out various controls and inspections along the supply chain. In Kenya, local phytosanitary

authorities inspect flowers due for export for plant diseases and pests. Then the exported flowers

undergo aviation security screening, with X-ray and other suitable methods. As soon as the flowers

arrive in the Netherlands, at Schiphol Airport, Dutch customs sometimes control the flower

shipments to ensure that they do not contain hidden contraband, such as illegal drugs or doping

substances. Then the Dutch phytosanitary authorities inspect the compliance of the Kenyan flowers

using the EU’s plant health regulations. The Dutch customs, concerned mainly with general

compliance, may later still ensure that the flower shipments comply with various fiscal

requirements. The table below lists different border controls in the end-to-end Kenya–Netherlands

air trade lane.

ADB, 2015