EU to Rewrite Air Cargo Security Measures

(Journal of Commerce Online – Bruce Barnard)

Aviation security experts to present tighter rules in December

The European Union Nov. 5 gave its security experts a month to draw up tighter air cargo security measures in the wake of two foiled bomb plots on U.S.-bound flights. The European Commission, the EU’s executive, will present concrete proposals at the next meeting of transport ministers from the bloc’s 27 member states on Dec. 2, EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas said.

Kallas chaired a meeting in Brussels Friday of European aviation security experts who discussed ways of improving security and identifying loopholes in the air freight transport chain. The meeting was prompted by the discovery Oct. 29 of one bomb at East Midlands airport in the UK after it arrived on a flight from Cologne, Germany, and another in Dubai. Both originated in Yemen.

On Friday, the UK introduced tougher security checks on air cargo shipments from the Middle East, south Asia and North Africa, revoking more than 30 transshipment exemptions. Read more here.