For immediate release September 8th, 2010
Ref: 1055

The International Shipsuppliers & Services Association has received the finest endorsement to date of its efforts to improve the quality of global ship supply after the World Customs Organisation praised the progress it is making in upgrading its 2010 ISSA Quality Standard.

In a letter to ISSA President Jens Olsen, Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General, of the WCO, said the ISSA Quality Standard 2010 “clearly demonstrates ISSA Members’ commitment to comply with all statutory requirements and to play a leading role in both facilitating the needs of the maritime industry while meeting the international and domestic requirements associated with vessel, port and supply chain security.”

He stressed that while the relationships between Customs administrations and companies involved in ship supply have never been more critical, it was clear that vessel delays cost big money.

“Initiatives such as the ISSA Quality Standard are important building blocks to ensure high levels of trust exist between Customs and Industry. The nature of the ship supply business is a unique one. Members of ISSA routinely import and export goods without the payment of Customs charges and generally have unfettered access to Customs controlled areas such as wharves and bonded stores, so they can go about their lawful business. As a direct consequence, it is not unreasonable of Customs to expect in return high levels of voluntary compliance with Customs and other legislation,” he wrote.

This endorsement by the WCO follows similar support forwarded by InterManager in July of this year. In a similar letter to the ISSA President, InterManager President Roberto Giorgi welcomed the upgraded ISSA Quality Standard and said it was very encouraging “to see that ISSA is determined to continuously improve standards of service provided”.

Quality of supply service has long been a cornerstone of ISSA’s work to improve the image of the industry and enhancements to its existing Quality Standard will take into account a number of fresh initiatives such as catering standards onboard ship; security aspects in light of ISPS and many environmental considerations such as avoiding the excessive use of packaging and better control of the disposal of toxic and carcinogenic material in port.

ISSA President Jens Olsen has already gone on record saying that he wants to encourage membership growth of ISSA through the development of ISSA’s Quality Standard so that it becomes a beacon for quality and an example to other sectors as to how to work with regulators to gain maximum benefit for member companies.

Mr Mikuriya added: “The ISSA Quality Standard 2010 provides a sound basis at a global level to guide national Customs administrations and ISSA Members in dialogue over appropriate procedures and processes to ensure compliance with controls, but also equally importantly to ensure the rapid facilitation of the legitimate requirements of industry with minimum intervention and ‘red tape’.

“The active involvement of ISSA in the WCO issues is highly constructive and greatly appreciated. I look forward to this relationship developing further in the future,” he confirmed.

Ends

For Further Information Please Contact:
Elaborate Communications
Sean Moloney / Debbie Munford Tel: +44 (0) 1296 682356

Notes for Editors
• ISSA is the international trade association for the world’s ship supply sector with a membership of nearly 2,000 ship suppliers throughout the world.
• It has 43 national associations of ship suppliers as full ISSA members and has associate members in 52 other countries where no national association exists.
• Quality operation is an essential pre-requisite to ISSA membership and as a result, ISSA members have to undergo a rigorous vetting procedure before gaining admittance. Our members and the goods and services they offer can be found in every major port in the world.
• The Association was formed in 1955 and celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2005 of half a century of service to the maritime industry.

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