The UK, like many other modern-day economies, has recently witnessed an avalanche of new, security-focused control regimes in international supply chain operations. SITPRO and Grainger (2008) count 37 different, often overlapping, security driven procedures and controls. The resulting regulatory burden on supply chain operations can be described as ‘security spaghetti’. Within some policy circles rhetoric seeks to strike a balance between enforcing additional controls and promoting international trade. This paper asks whether both can be achieved. It holds that regulatory control objectives do not necessarily have to be an additional burden and can be reconciled with supply chain management principles.

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