Supply chain security management and trade facilitation: challenges as of revised Kyoto convention

Abstract

Customs administrations are responsible by controls related to physical flow of merchandises through boundaries, and it is an element of a country competitiveness. The big amount of controls and related bureaucracy decreases the international flow of merchandises, on the one hand. On the other, economic operators (as importers, exporters, freight companies, logistics operators and freight forwarders) want faster procedures in the global supply chain management. It presents controls and trade facilitation trade-off. Trade facilitation is lead by international institutions as World Trade Organization and the World Bank. Required controls are a subject of World Customs Organization (WCO). An international agreement supported by WCO, signed in Kyoto, in Japan, settle alternatives to facilitate merchandise flow across borders, considering required controls. In that sense, is mandatory apply for the use of intelligence methods in supply chain risk management. A risk management acting as intelligence works to guarantee control with agility using non-invasive inspections equipments, sharing information between customs administration at origin and at destination, system integration, and paperless procedures, as attributes of a world class customs. In that context, this research focus on best practices and identify performance indicators of customs administrations around the world, benchmarking those practices to Brazil. (AU)