Customs administrations worldwide face the trade security/trade facilitation dilemma. On the one hand, there is continuing growth in legitimate international trade, while on the other, there is illicit cross-border movement of weapons of mass destruction, drugs, counterfeit merchandise, dual-use chemicals, small arms, nuclear material, undeclared merchandise, currency, cultural property, hazardous waste and people. In light of the terrorist threat to the global economy, nations seek economic and physical security from their customs administrations, while international traders look for uniformity, predictability, transparency and efficiency in their dealings with customs. The World Customs Organization (WCO) finds itself in the business of globalizing and, to the extent possible, standardizing customs control efforts to improve both the security and facilitation of the global supply chain. The most visible effort to this end is the SAFE framework, a global supply chain security initiative, developed at the WCO by the international trade community and WCO member customs administrations, to secure and facilitate the global supply chain.
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