Janet Napolitano, head of the United States Department of Homeland Security, has praised the UPU's efforts to create global security standards.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the World Customs Organization (WCO) in Brussels, Napolitano recognised joint efforts by the UPU, WCO and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to strengthen the global mail supply chain.
"We should all support the work underway within the UPU… to develop a global standard for advance data on mail shipments for security purposes, as well as standard processes for handling and resolving anomalies detected at international transit hubs. The goal of these efforts will be to update the UPU Convention and underlying Regulations, an effort we all hope can be accomplished next year," Napolitano said.
The Department of Homeland Security is working with the UPU's newly established inter-committee security group. As well as UPU member countries, members include the WCO, ICAO and the World Trade Organization. "This group has made impressive progress over the last several months in establishing emergency security contacts in all 191 UPU member states to respond to mail transit alarms. I encourage those countries who are not yet participating to support this effort," Napolitano said.
Napolitano also emphasized the importance of not impeding global trade.
"The global supply chain system must be able to continue to function, and quickly recover, from major disruptions, because the efficient functioning of the global logistics system – of real-time inventories – is essential to the global economy."
The Homeland Security head had been invited to address the WCO Council meeting in June on working together "to strengthen the global supply chain that is so fundamentally critical to our national and international security and our economic prosperity".
Free flow
The UPU inter-committee security group (ICSG) convened for the first time in April to start discussions on creating global postal security standards to improve the security of the worldwide supply chain. Four sub-groups were created to facilitate and fast-track the tasks at hand. Their terms of reference will be on the agenda at the ICSG’s next meeting in July.
This followed much work behind the scenes by the UPU after last November’s introduction of new security measures by the US Transportation Security Agency for US-bound international mail. These were in response to two explosive packages from Yemen being intercepted in the network of private couriers in October 2010.
The measures forced Posts worldwide to change their operational procedures overnight. Some Posts stopped accepting or delayed US-bound mail items, including courier products. Others faced higher transportation costs and the shutdown of major mail transit hubs, causing mail backlogs around the world.
While the measures have been amended in recent months, some mail transit hubs are still not accepting items destined for the US from other countries.