Interesting and balanced EU report on how technology could help the Irish border issue. Comments in thread... “Smart Border 2.0 Avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland for Customs control and the free movement of persons”
europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes…
europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes…
1 Even if the parties, UK in particular, could decide what it wanted, and even if the scheme was based largely on the Norway-Sweden border as suggested, the development, installation and roll-out of any such system would require many years. My guess 5+ years.
The cost of the systems and kit to support such a border would (my guess again) run into the billions (CapEx) before you factor in the operating costs - personnel etc.
This always assumes we can agree what we want with the EU and keep the specification of the systems stable enough for anyone to be able to develop it. The UK has a pitiful record of public-sector IT procurement.
And then of course, there is the tangible costs to the companies who would largely operate the scheme (the trusted traders). They will need to have the trained administrative effort available to drive the export/import process. This will likely prejudice smaller companies.
And finally, there’s the intangible costs - the cost of the border not being quite as frictionless as it is now. A 15 minute delay is highly significant in a modern Just In Time supply chain.
I just don’t see the cost/benefit is balanced here. Don’t get me wrong - I love technology - but wouldn’t it be better used in catching criminals, self driving cars, autonomous aircraft, fighting cancer or putting people on Mars? #StopBrexit #FBPE
unroll please
