IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IRISL CARGO INSPECTION

S E C R E T BRUSSELS 000990 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2028 TAGS: ECON EFIN EWWT ETRD PARM PINR PREL KNNP EUN BE, IR SUBJECT: IMPLEMENTATION OF THE IRISL CARGO INSPECTION PROVISION OF UNSCR 1803: BELGIAN RESPONSE REF: STATE 69339 Classified By: CDA RICHARD EASON, REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (S) Charge delivered the points in reftel to Werner Bauwens, the head of the MFA's Non-proliferation Office on June 30. He agreed to relay the points to all the relevant offices and agencies within the GOB. ¶2. (S) Bauwens noted that the EU had adopted sanctions based on UNSCR 1803 last Monday and had taken all the steps required under UNSCR 1803. Belgium's banks have also already taken action and, indeed, many had already taken actions in anticipation. Bauwens commented that the U.S. had moved beyond 1803 with its actions against Bank Melli. ¶3. (S) Cargo issues have also been raised within the EU; the new element is the request to inspect suspect cargo. Bauwens said this created difficulties. He asked how such inspections would be organized. If a ship comes in full of containers and the suspect one is on the bottom of the stack, who pays for the costs of unloading and inspecting the cargo? How does one define a cargo is suspect and on what criteria? ¶4. (S) Bauwens stressed that information exchange on shipments must be improved to create a system with timely advance warning. He was concerned that shipping companies would begin to balk at requests to inspect containers when many were found to contain innocent items. He said that this is the reason why the GOB is working within the EU to such up just such an improved information exchange system,