Throughout 2012, concerns have remained about external threats to supply chains (such as natural disasters and demand shocks) and systemic vulnerabilities (such as oil dependence and information fragmentation). Additionally, growing concern around cyber risk, rising insurance and trade finance costs are leading supply chain experts to explore new mitigation options. Accenture research indicates that more than 80% of companies are now concerned about supply chain resilience.  A new report by the World Economic Forum entitled Building Resilience in Supply Chains, explores government and industry sector views on systemic supply chain risks and building a resilience framework to manage them. The report findings are based on expert level workshops and data gathering throughout 2012. Notable differences in perspectives stem from government responsibility for public security and long-term risks compared to industry’s focus on ensuring that supply chains work effectively on a day-to-day basis.  The full WEF report can be accessed at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_RRN_MO_BuildingResilienceSupplyChains_Report_2013.pdf

One of the US Transportation Security Agency’s (TSA) security layers is the National Canine Program (NCP), composed of over 760 deployed explosives detection canine teams, including Passenger Screening Canine (PSC) teams trained to detect explosives on passengers. The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined (1) data TSA has on its canine program, what these data show, and to what extent TSA analyzed these data to identify program trends, and (2) the extent to which TSA deployed PSC teams using a risk-based approach and determined their effectiveness prior to deployment.

GAO found that TSA is collecting and using key data on its canine program, using the Canine Website System (CWS), a central management database. but could better analyze these data to identify program trends. TSA uses CWS to capture  the amount of time canine teams conduct training as well as searching for explosives door, among other functions. However, TSA has not fully analyzed the data it collects in CWS to identify program trends and areas that are working well or in need of corrective action. Such analyses could help TSA to determine canine teams' proficiency, inform future deployment efforts, and help ensure that taxpayer funds are used effectively. The full GAO report can be accessed at: http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/651725.pdf

An Evaluation Report of European Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1082/2012 (the New ACC3 Regulation) undertaken by Innovative Compliance Europe Ltd and DLA Piper UK LLP found that:

• The New ACC3 Regulation will be cost efficient to implement without reducing the strength of the measures proposed to enhance the security of flights bringing cargo from third countries into the EU
• The New ACC3 Regulation contributes towards the goal of enhancing third country air cargo security without overburdening the air cargo industry
• A supply chain approach to air cargo security is utilised in the New ACC3 Regulation. In recognising that different actors in the supply chain have different security vulnerabilities and strengths, the new ACC3 Regulation will enable third country entities that have been EU aviation security validated to benefit from streamlined security protocols
• The ACC3 framework supplements ICAO's Chicago Convention

This newsletter provides a link to the full Evaluation Report published on the Security Web Page of DG-MOVE. It can be downloaded from:  http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/security/doc/new_acc3_regulation_final_report.pdf