How 'free' is free trade?(risks faced by global companies)

BYLINE: BY ALAN M. FIELD

Remember when personal computers promised to do away with paper and lead to a four-day workweek? It turned out that the paper just proliferated along with the demands on your time. Customs-related risks are a lot like that today. The promise of trade liberalization and automated trade management was that they would make it much easier - and less risky - for logistics and other departments to deal with customs rules and regulations worldwide.

On the contrary, the brave new world of trade liberalization has turned out to be a lot more complex and a lot riskier. "Companies have been lulled into complacency by assuming that the rules are completely harmonized, but they are not," said Bill Methenitis, Americas director for the customs and international trade practice at Ernst & Young.

A new study by Ernst & Young focuses on the hidden customs-related risks involved with ship-ping goods across the multiple borders of today's more complex supply chains. The study polled executives at leading companies such as Disney, Baker Hughes, International Paper, Cargill, Ford and Microsoft, building on earlier Ernst & Young surveys of more than 400 corporate leaders responsible for managing these risks.

Executives at these …