Progress Report on the Implementation of APEC S Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and Secure

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2012/CSOM/004

Agenda Item: 3

Progress Report on the Implementation of APEC’s Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and Secure Trade Strategy (November 2011-September 2012)

Purpose: Consideration

Submitted by: CTTF Chair

Progress Report on the Implementation of APEC’s Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and Secure Trade Strategy (November 2011-September 2012)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In November 2011, APEC Ministers endorsed the APEC Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and Secure Trade (CT/ST) Strategy, which identified three fundamental pillars – security, efficiency, and resilience – that will underpin APEC’s counter-terrorism and secure trade efforts over at least the next five years. APEC Ministers further instructed APEC Senior Officials to review progress annually on the implementation of the CT/ST Strategy. Since the adoption of this strategy, the APEC Counter-Terrorism Task Force (CTTF), the Transportation Working Group, the Subcommittee on Customs Procedures, the Business Mobility Group, the Telecommunications and Information Working Group, and the Tourism Working Group (TWG) have enhanced APEC’s collaboration on a comprehensive and integrated approach to address counter-terrorism and secure trade matters, identified counter-terrorism challenges and opportunities in the APEC region, and sponsored capacity building and technical assistance programs in response.

This document reviews the implementation of the CT/ST Strategy by APEC’s relevant sub-fora between November 2011 and September 2012 across the four priority cross-cutting activity areas for APEC’s counter-terrorism and secure trade efforts: Secure Supply Chains, Secure Travel, Secure Finance, and Secure Infrastructure. This document also reviews the progress that APEC sub-fora are making to deliver effective capacity building programs and to enhance cooperation and coordination within APEC and with the private sector and other organizations.

Required Action/Decision Points
It is recommended that the Senior Officials:

1. Present the progress report on the implementation of APEC’s Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and Secure Trade Strategy to Ministers in the region.

Progress Report on the Implementation of APEC’s Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and Secure Trade Strategy

(November 2011-September 2012)

In November 2011, APEC Ministers endorsed the APEC Consolidated Counter-Terrorism and Secure Trade (CT/ST) Strategy, which identified three fundamental pillars – security, efficiency, and resilience – that will underpin APEC’s counter-terrorism and secure trade efforts over at least the next five years. APEC Ministers further instructed APEC Senior Officials to review progress annually on the implementation of the CT/ST Strategy. Since the adoption of this strategy, the APEC Counter-Terrorism Task Force, the Transportation Working Group, the Subcommittee on Customs Procedures, the Business Mobility Group, the Telecommunications and Information Working Group, and the Tourism Working Group have enhanced APEC’s collaboration on a comprehensive and integrated approach to address counter-terrorism and secure trade matters, identified counter-terrorism challenges and opportunities in the APEC region, and sponsored capacity building and technical assistance programs in response.

This document reviews the implementation of the CT/ST Strategy by APEC’s relevant sub-fora between November 2011 and September 2012, across the four priority cross-cutting activity areas for APEC’s counter-terrorism and secure trade efforts: Secure Supply Chains, Secure Travel, Secure Finance, and Secure Infrastructure. This document also reviews the progress that APEC sub-fora are making to deliver effective capacity building programs and to enhance cooperation and coordination within APEC and with the private sector and other organizations.

Secure Supply Chains

The APEC Transportation Working Group (TPTWG)Maritime Security Sub-Group (MEG-SEC) conducted workshops in Mexico (March 2012) and China (May 2012) on its Port Security Risk Assessment Tool, which builds the capacity of economies to identify their highest risk maritime critical infrastructure and target available resources to mitigate these risks. It also conducted Self Assessment Training Workshops in Thailand/Indonesia (November 2011) and Malaysia (April 2012) to strengthen the technical capability of port officials and managers by developing a range of comprehensive maritime self assessment practices combined with a scoring tool to standardize the self assessment of Port Facility Security Plans to meet the International Maritime Organization (IMO) International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code.

The MEG-SEC is also developing and is leading Port Security Legislation and Regulation Workshops to promote advanced port security legislation and regulation among APEC economies. The workshops focus on fundamental requirements and limitations of the IMO ISPS Code, with an eye toward harmonizing implementation and enforcement. In addition, the MEG-SEC completed its multiple year effort under the Port Security Visit Program (PSVP), conducting four final workshops in Peru (March 2012), Hong Kong, China (March 2012), Singapore (April 2012) and Mexico (April 2012), promoting consistent ISPS Code implementation across the APEC region by sharing the experiences of economy experts. Overall, 14 economies participated in the PSVP during its deployment, and the MEG-SEC has proposed carrying forward its information exchange efforts through ISPS Code “Good Practice” Workshops in 2013.

The Counter-Terrorism Task Force (CTTF), TPTWG, and Sub-Committee on Customs Procedures (SCCP) are collaborating with the World Customs Organization (WCO) on a project to develop a Trade Recovery Information Exchange Platform. The project will allow APEC members to exchange essential information in the event of a disruption to the global supply chain transportation system, thereby facilitating and expediting the efficient recovery of trade flows. The CTTF organized a Policy Dialogue on Supply Chain Security in February 2012 to identify security vulnerabilities in the regional and global supply chain and consider future APEC work. The SCCP Chair, Business Mobility Group (BMG) Convenor, and MEG-SEC Chair participated in the dialogue, along with guest experts from the World Customs Organization and the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate. In addition, the CTTF and the TPTWG co-sponsored the 3rd APEC Workshop on Air Cargo Security in Vietnam in April 2012, which enabled APEC members to share successes and challenges in policy development and program implementation, and technological solutions and new initiatives on air cargo security.

Secure Travel

The BMG has begun two projects to advance risk-based approaches to international travel within the region. The first project aims to develop consensus on trusted traveler characteristics. A questionnaire on this topic has been distributed to APEC members and the BMG will compile a report based on members’ responses and share the results with relevant APEC sub-fora. A second project examines how APEC economies can overcome challenges to implementing advance passenger information systems. In addition, the BMG has developed and is considering ways to advance a Border Capabilities Model for travel in the air mode. The BMG also continues to support the APEC Business Travel Card Program.

The TPTWG Aviation Security Experts Group (AEG-SEC) and the CTTF held a workshop on measures to combat bus terrorism in July 2012 in the Philippines to promote the continued exchange of best practices and to facilitate the establishment of capacity building relationships between economies. Both sub-fora are planning additional joint workshops over the next year on canine screening methods and low cost/no cost aviation security and checkpoint optimization tools.

All APEC sub-fora are taking steps to implement the APEC Travel Facilitation Initiative, which outlines a series of steps designed to facilitate the flow of passenger travel throughout the APEC region. Each sub-fora has a representative that serves on the Travel Facilitation Initiative Steering Council to help coordinate projects across APEC.

Representatives from the Tourism Working Group (TWG) participated in the CTTF meeting in Moscow (2012) to discuss tourism security related issues. The TWG has developed APEC Guidelines on Ensuring Tourist Safety, which were endorsed by Tourism Ministers in Khabarovsk, Russia in July 2012. The guidelines stress the importance of safety and risk management, assist in identifying best practices, and encourage close cooperation to establish a secure community in the Asia Pacific.

Secure Finance

The CTTF continues to develop and implement capacity building workshops to prevent terrorists from exploiting regional financial institutions. In January 2012, the CTTF delivered a workshop in Kuala Lumpur on measures to protect non-profit organizations against misuse by terrorists. An additional workshop, planned for early 2013, will be jointly implemented by the CTTF and the APEC Small and Medium Enterprise Working Group and is designed to help APEC members protect Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions from being misused for terrorist or criminal purposes. The workshop will be sponsored by Australia, who will deliver the workshop in partnership with Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru and the Philippines.

Secure Infrastructure

The CTTF continued to advance work on Major Events Security Planning, following a capacity building workshop on the subject in Canada in September 2011. The workshop was the first of its kind for the APEC region and covered various aspects of major event planning from security to intelligence to inter-agency cooperation and media management. The workshop produced a document on “Best Practices” which was to serve as a starting point for future capacity-building within APEC. To that end, CTTF members are considering the development of a web-based Major Events Security Framework, which would be used as a tool for APEC members to increase security for major events.

The Telecommunications Working Group (TEL) continues to reinforce the importance of a trusted, secure and sustainable online environment through the work of the Security and Prosperity Steering Group (SPSG), which seeks to build capacity and foster information sharing between member economies on cybersecurity and combating cybercrime. Member economies regularly share information about domestic efforts and carry out various projects and activities in this regard. Cybersecurity awareness raising activities are also ongoing in which economies can share best practices about how they are working domestically to educate citizens about how to better protect themselves online.

In April 2012, the TEL hosted its first Cybersecurity Incident Response Team workshop, which focused on critical functions for national computer security incident response teams with a goal of enhancing regional incident management capacity and cooperation. A TEL workshop on Handheld Mobile Device Security included government and private sector representatives and focused on ultimately developing a set of guidelines/best practices for the security of handheld devices. In addition to this training, the SPSG helda capacity building workshop in July 2012 that focused on combating and mitigating botnets, which provided an opportunity for member economies to share work underway in this area, discuss lessons learned, and determine a path forward for improved collaboration.

Progress on Delivering Effective Capacity Building Programs

The CT/ST Strategy calls for APEC to improve its ability to deliver effective, innovative, and sustained capacity building programs. Relevant APEC sub-fora have taken steps to implement this tasking by placing greater emphasis on developing multi-year and multi-stage capacity building initiatives to ensure programs have sustained support and benefit from a strategic, long-term outlook. Examples of multi-stage projects include the BMG initiatives on trusted traveler characteristics and advance passenger information systems, and the TEL SPSG Cybercrime Experts Group, which brings together the law enforcement community, including judges and prosecutors, to build capability, discuss cybercrime challenges faced by member economies, and share experiences for enhanced collaboration.

Examples of innovative programs include the SCCP’s Capacity Building Plan for the development of Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programs, which will be delivered in a series of regional workshops and assist interested APEC economies in developing and implementing AEO programs in cooperation with other relevant frameworks such as the WCO. The SCCP is also leading the Mutual Recognition Pathfinder Initiative to assist in developing capacity building tools for economies interested in pursuing mutual recognition of their AEO programs, with that of other APEC partners.

The CTTF has developed a set of recommendations to strengthen its ability to monitor and evaluate its capacity building projects. These recommendations, which are designed to complement ongoing work in the APEC Budget and Management Committee to develop a capacity building evaluation tool, will allow the CTTF to improve project effectiveness, better understand the impact of its projects, and share the results of projects with APEC members.

Progress on Enhancing Cooperation and Coordination

Finally, the CT/ST Strategy calls on APEC sub-fora to enhance mechanisms that promote comprehensive cooperation and coordination. This includes strengthening cooperation between APEC sub-fora and enhancing engagement with the private sector. Since the adoption of the CT/ST Strategy, sub-fora leaders and members have improved cross-fora coordination and increased the exchange of information in a number of ways. For example, sub-fora leaders have attended each other’s meetings to brief members on relevant work and they meet informally on the margins of APEC Senior Officials Meetings to ensure ongoing and planned work is well coordinated. Policy dialogues on specific subjects, such as a supply chain security dialogue held during CTTF-1 in Moscow, have increased the opportunity for integrated, cross-fora discussions. Finally, APEC sub-fora are engaged in a large number of joint projects, as outlined above, to leverage the expertise within each group. The Travel Facilitation Initiative is another example of extensive cross-fora project collaboration.

In addition, sub-fora have enhanced engagement with the private sector and other relevant organizations through initiatives such as the APEC Business Travel Card, as well as the SCCP’s Customs-Business Virtual Working Group, which consists of representatives of customs and the private sector, and is charged with providing input to SCCP’s annual work plan and working together to encourage its progress. Sub-fora have forged stronger ties with other organizations, by inviting other multilateral fora to participate in APEC meetings and leveraging non-APEC expertise for capacity building projects. Since the adoption of the CT/ST Strategy, the following organizations have contributed to APEC meetings, workshops, and other events: the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, World Customs Organization, Financial Action Task Force, Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering, International Civil Aviation Organization, International Maritime Organization, International Air Transport Association, and the International Working Group on Land Transport Security. IMO participation has been particularly key with respect to two MEG-SEC projects (PSRAT/SATW and ISPS Code Good Practice Workshops),which the IMO offered to co-fund at the TPT-WG meetings in St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2012.

Within the TEL SPSG, member economies recognize the multi-stakeholder approach to securing cyberspace and may collaborate with industry partners during the planning and execution of its workshops and related activities. SPSG also maintains a strong working relationship with the OECD Working Party on Information Security and Privacy that includes participation in meetings, cooperation on initiatives and sharing of relevant work products. In addition, the SPSG maintains a strong working relationship with the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT). Both the OECD and APCERT have extended guest status in APEC TEL.

In conclusion, important progress has been made in the past year to enhance member economies’ ability to protect their economic systems and infrastructure from misuse, attack and disruption, and the relevant APEC sub-fora are clearly committed to continue to undertake a comprehensive and integrated approach to implementing APEC’s Consolidated Counter-terrorism and Secure Trade Strategy going forward.