The new EU Air security regulations EU300/2008 & EU185/2010 is valid in Germany as of April 29, 2010 and replaces regulation EU2320/2002. These new regulations were created to streamline the different European approaches on air-freight security, based on the experiences made with the initial regulation.
The principal process for REGULATED AGENT status and KNOWN CONSIGNOR status has been taken over by the new regulation.
Freight can only have a “SECURED” or “UNSECURED” status, as it was in the past. “Unsecured” consignments are still subject to security checks, which triggers additional time and charges.
REGULATED AGENT (“RA”):
The RA (i.e. forwarder, GHA) still has to be officially certified by local authorities meeting strict standards. Regulated agents are responsible to supervise the rules in the airfreight transport chain.
The new regulations stipulate only minor operational changes to keep the status. On top the RA is under close supervision by the legal German airfreight security authorities.
Schenker Deutschland AG is certified Regulated Agent under registration number: DE/RAC/0110
KNOWN CONSIGNOR (“KC”):
In the past the airfreight shipper only needed to sign a “security declaration” to their respec-tive forwarders (with RA-Status) to receive the KC Status. This form needed to be renewed once a year. In this case no further security checks were required.
This concept of “easy” acknowledgment has been strictly modified by the new regulations.
As of 29.April 2010 a KNOWN CONSIGNOR in Germany can only be certified by German government aviation security authorities (Luftfahrtbundesamt=LBA)!
Schenker Germany (and all other RA) are no longer allowed to allocate the KC-Status of export customers!
Once approved by authorities, the certified “Known Consignor” will be published in a central EU-wide database, accessible only by RA´s and authorities. This Database is expected to go “live” May/June 2010.
FOR NEW CUSTOMERS this means that Schenker Germany can only accept their cargo on “SECURED”- Status, if they are already mentioned as KC in the EU data-base. If this is not the case, the freight must be classified “UNSECURED” which results in extra security checks.
EXISTING CUSTOMERS already approved by Schenker as a KC prior cut-off date 29. April 2010 will benefit from a transition regulation.
Due to the short timeframe given by the new EU-law, the EU commission accepted a 3 year transition period. This enables all interested airfreight shippers to get the official approved KC status, but at the same time keep a preliminary KC status for 3 years with their respec-tive RA´s.
During the recent weeks, Schenker Germany has contacted all their airfreight customers in Germany and asked to renew their existing security declaration before 28.April2010, in order to be able to get approved as a preliminary KC till April 2013.
To avoid any misunderstandings:
ONLY Companies, exporting goods by airfreight and which are located in Germany or EU Countries have to comply to these regulations. Com-panies located in foreign countries who export airfreight to Germany or EU are not affected !
KNOWN SUBCONTRACTOR:
The status of a known subcontractor (i.e. haulage companies, packing /warehousing com-panies and other service providers) allocated by RA´s and KC´s will cease to exist.
Only the haulage companies are now allowed to sign a so-called “transportation declara-tion”. This can either be done to RA´s or KC´s as already practised in recent years with the subcontractor declaration.
As from 29.April 2010 all other service providers need to get either a RA or KC status, de-pending on their scope of business and judgement by the German authorities. Otherwise they are no longer eligible to take part in the “SECURED” transport chain!
Schenker Deutschland AG is in permanent dialog with all their subcontractors and partners to comply with the new regulations.
GOVERNMENT APPROVED SECURITY CHECKS
There are only a limited number of approved security checks, to transform UNSECURED shipments into SECURED ones.
The 5-day Security Storage is not allowed any more. Therefore it will be difficult to SECURE freight exceeding the capacity of x-ray machines due to weight, dimension or commodity. Many major Airlines in Germany already informed us that as of 29.April 2010 they will refuse to accept “UNSECURED” cargo which does not fit in standard X-ray machines. Airlines offer other approved Security Checks (i.e. hand search) for specific commodities only under spe-cial terms, conditions and prices. This has to be checked case by case with the respective Airline.
In general a security check will always be a hurdle for time sensitive consignments, since it consumes valuable time, produces extra costs and makes definite bookings difficult or impossible!
Additionally there will be the threat that certain types of UNSECURED freight gets re-fused completely by the airlines.
Our conclusions and suggestions FOR GERMAN AIRFREIGHT SHIPPERS
- Every Airfreight Shipper in Germany should evaluate, if it is beneficial for him to get the official certified KC-Status. A benefit-cost analysis is suggested here.
- As per our information the licensing requirements to achieve this status will be extensive and probably expensive.
- If an Airfreight Shipper decides to apply for the certified status, we suggest to get in contact with the German authorities as soon as possible and not to wait. We expect that the authorisation process will take several weeks or months and the capacities of the authority auditors are limited.
- According to our current information a German shipper might be eligible to be-come “Known Consignor” in a simplified procedure, if he is already a certified AEO (classification S or F). Details should be checked with the LBA directly.
Our conclusions and suggestions FOR FOREIGN AIRFREIGHT CONSIGNEES:
- Consignee’s receiving freight from Germany/EU should check the Known Con-signor Status of their respective Shipper. If official KC Status is not achieved yet or preliminary KC Status is not approved by Schenker (RA), the cost absorption to make the airfreight consignment(s) SECURE need to be negotiated between the Shipper and Consignee.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Please note that many details of the implementation regulation are not yet finally determined by government, so changes or further restrictions may apply in short notice.
For further or latest information please visit the website of the government agency responsible for the implementation of the EU-Regulations in Germany.