Supply Chain Management and Regulatory Controls: a Case for Trade Facilitation

The paper aims to introduce the operational implications of regulatory controls to the supply chain management debate. Supply chain efficiencies may be frustrated through requirements set by organisations like Customs authorities, revenue authorities, immigration services, security forces, health and safety legislators, food and environment legislators and transport regulators. Recent security scares and public health concerns have echoed calls for tighter regulatory controls across supply chain operations and at national frontiers in particular. Regulatory control is nothing new in international trade and non-tariff barriers remain an operational challenge in international supply chain management. Trade facilitation looks at how trade procedures can be simplified to improve operational efficiency while ensuring that the needs of regulators are met. Regulatory control and operational efficiency need not stand at odds with each other. The challenge is to combine the needs of regulators with supply chain management principles. The UK gives some illustration of regulatory complexity at national frontiers and ports. While some degree of simplification has been achieved, there is scope for considerable improvement. Given imminent security fears resulting from terrorism or food, animal and plant health concerns, the well-established concept of "trade facilitation" needs to be included in the wider supply chain management debate.