The European Commission has asked its security experts from the 27 member states to start working on proposals aimed at upgrading the security of air cargo in view of the latest terrorist plots unveiled a few days ago.

No details were given following an urgent meeting of security experts called for the 27 member states today in Brussels to discuss the current situation. However, a spokesman for the Commission told timesofmalta.com that the issue will now be address once again during a meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers next Monday.

“In the meantime, EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas the EU experts to work on concrete actions, together with US security experts, which we might be considering to upgrade the already stringent EU air cargo rules.”

Security at EU level already includes a robust system of air cargo security, in place since 2003, and reinforced with new rules which entered into force last April. The system is built on the principles of supply chain security and screening of shipments.

Its basic principle is that all cargo from the EU is subject to security controls, either controls on the origin of the shipment, or screening of the cargo shipment itself.

The controls are carried out by the aviation industry under the supervision of the member states and the European Commission.

However, Commissioner Kallas told experts that “we need to adapt to the security risk we face.”

The meeting was called after the discoveries in the past week of US-bound explosives concealed in packages that originated from Yemen and a separate raft of mail bombs from Greece addressed to European leaders.

The mail bomb plots raised new questions about the safety of air cargo, as Western authorities have mainly focused on dangers to passenger jets following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Nearly 26 million tonnes of cargo were flown internationally last year, underscoring the shear challenge of thoroughly scanning every single package that get into airplanes run by global parcel firms such as FedEx and UPS.

Air freight services are also a vital part of the global economy as they carry 35 percent of the total value of goods traded internationally, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Germany, France, Britain, Belgium and the Netherlands unilaterally decided to ban all air freight originating from Yemen after printer ink cartridges stuffed with a hard-to-detect explosive were uncovered in Dubai and Britain.

Germany extended its ban to passenger flights from Yemen.

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