Cut That Tape

Charges of red tape in Washington are common enough, but rarely are they made by high Government officers. In a new report, Secretary of Transportation John Volpe reveals some shocking statistics about the high costs that red tape tack on to the nation's imports and exports. Says Volpe: "The cost of documentation in U.S. international trade has reached nearly $6.5 billion annually, or 7.5% of the value of U.S. export and import shipments." The documents are demanded mostly by the Government, but also by banks, insurance companies and shipping firms. Items:

> More than 1,000 different customs, credit, insurance and other documents are in use in the U.S. >An average overseas shipment requires more than 360 copies of 46 separate documents.

> U.S. foreign trade creates 6.5 billion copies a year of 828 million documents.

All this, says Volpe, "impedes the expansion of international trade and can seriously endanger the nation's ability to compete in world markets." He recommends elimination, simplification or standardization of scores of trade documents. That, he estimates, could reduce paperwork costs by at least 45% and save U.S. importers, exporters and Government agencies $3 billion a year.

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