A positive Change starts from Working with Stakeholders

A #PositiveChange starts from Working with Stakeholders

An Experience with #DutchCustoms @SchipholAirport (Part 3)

With the ups and downs of the pandemic this year, distant working is a new normal so that different jobs and tasks do not need to be suspended in the Netherlands. Though many international flights and transportations were banned, Schiphol Airport and the Dutch Customs are still busy working for its mission to help the Netherlands improve the Dutch competitive position and to protect the Netherlands from unsafe and undesirable goods. With an ambitious mission and leadership, such a big organization, similar to other big organizations, is slow in undergoing organizational change due to its immense size, the divergent attitudes, in-consistent comprehension, and individuality of its employees in applying justice. Any changes, at an organizational level, are an organization's headache and also a big challenge at a national level due to the inelastic institutional system. As expected, the Netherlands strives to be a fair and equitable society where discrimination of race, gender, religion, etc. should not happen. However, these lofty goals of a highly developed society have not permeated through all social layers. I would, therefore, still strongly suggest that efforts be undertaken to convince the public at large of the overarching benefits of equality, human rights, health, safety, and sustainability.

I continue my story of dealing with the Dutch Customs at the Schiphol Airport to discuss discrimination and fairness. The early story can be referred to as part 1 and part 2.  The third part is still on the play as follows. 

Thanks a lot to my attorney, Mr. David Mulder from Taylor Wessing,  my friends and family's support, we had further offline and online communication with the Dutch Customs complaints office team. This team has shown the capability of inspecting the case thoroughly with honesty and the attitude of anti-discrimination. Following the earlier investigation, which did not acknowledge the misbehavior of the Dutch customs, this team reached a different conclusion. It offered me a sincere apology on behalf of the Dutch Customs for the way its inspection was carried out and the way my complaint was handled in the first instance. In a new letter of August 20, 2020, the inspection team also commented that they regretted deeply that I was confronted with such a disappointing experience with the customs during such a hard time in my life (losing an unborn baby), which I deeply appreciated. 

In general, The inspection team concluded as follows. 

-        The customs officers' behavior was unprofessional (patting on the table, thumb signal, and the use of bad language). The inspection team also regrets that the customs have not organized a meeting earlier during which the matter could have been discussed and solved. To this point, I appreciate that the Dutch Customs has had the courage to acknowledge its organizations' mistakes and misbehavior. 

-        The inspection conclusion letter also mentioned that 10% of passengers of the flight from Beijing should be inspected, based on the regulation, but the luggage should be opened only if something turned up in a scan of their luggage, which obviously did not happen in my case. In my case, the customs officer diverged from the assignment without a (valid) reason. This part of my complaint is, therefore, well-founded. With regard to this part, the Dutch Customs acknowledged their mistakes and the errors of their employees in applying the regulation. They are intended to make a change and improve on this part particularly. 

-        The part of the complaint relating to my scarf (being taken away for not having a purchasing receipt) is considered well-founded too. The inspection letter states that the burden of proof that an item's origin was outside of the EU lies with the customs. Under no circumstances should passengers keep receipts with them at all times to prove the item's origin. Only when there are circumstances that would give cause to doubt that an item originates from outside the EU, the customs may require additional proof from the passenger in question. In the report, however, no such circumstances were mentioned or provided. Here too, the inspection team would revert to the Dutch Customs and bring this point to the attention of their employees as well.

As a final remark, the inspection team mentions that my complaint taught the Dutch Customs the internal complaint process could be improved. They furthermore acknowledge that, concerning passengers' inspection, my complaint shows how such inspections can go wrong. The Dutch customs aim to perform in a just way and review how it can improve such inspections in order to prevent an unjust selection of passengers and prevent all (appearance of) discrimination. With reference to my suggestions on August 6, 2020, the customs would review whether it would be feasible to monitor such inspections and/or setting up a council to supervise the prohibition and prevention of discrimination. And plans for future meetings to discuss such progress have been agreed on (December 2020).

 Although it has been one year since my first article, this journey of mine to deal/work with the Dutch Customs continues. As an educator and researcher from a university, the rest of the job on this case is to continue helping the Dutch Customs improve. I look forward to assisting the Dutch Customs with their institutional innovation as a stakeholder, looking forward to seeing their improvement of the competitive position of the Netherlands. 

By now, with the continuous determination of the Dutch Customs to learn from mistakes and their intention to involve stakeholders for necessary changes, for the sake of all Dutch citizens' wellbeing, I believe the Dutch Customs will be able to change faster, grow better, stay healthier, and aim for becoming a more sustainable and ethical organization. Let us all keep our fingers crossed that the next time someone arrives at Schiphol, she/he will not have the same experience as I had.

For the early two parts of the story, please refer to article 1 and article 2

Links of the previous articles: 

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/experience-dutch-customs-schiphol-airport-fairness-ying-zhang/

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/justice-knowledge-continued-story-dutch-customs-正义与知识-ying-zhang/

 2020年11月9日

张颖教授

积极的变化始于与利益相关者的合作

歧视与公平- 在史基浦机场与荷兰海关的经验（第3部分）

随着今年新冠疫情大流行的起伏，远程工作已成为一种新常态，荷兰各行各业因此无需暂停或耽误工作。尽管许多国际航班和运输被禁止或熔断，但史基浦机场和荷兰海关仍在忙于执行其任务，以帮助荷兰改善荷兰的竞争地位和保护荷兰免受不安全和不良商品的侵害。在这个雄心勃勃的使命和领导力下，像其他大型组织一样，这样的大型组织因其庞大的规模和员工对使命和任务的不同看法，以及不一致的理解，员工在面对正义和公平的时候出现差异化而使组织变革的进度变慢。其实，在组织层面上的任何变革都是组织的头疼问题。如果在一个缺乏弹性的国家制度体系中，变革在国家层面更是一个巨大的挑战。荷兰作为一个强调不歧视种族、性别、宗教、和努力成为公平和公正的一个社会，却在高度发达的环境里未能全面实现对所有社会阶层的公正平。因此，在我看来，促使公众相信并享有平等、人权、健康、安全和可持续性的总体优势的努力是不可停滞的

就这个话题，这里我继续讲述在史基浦机场与荷兰海关打交道的故事，以讨论歧视和公平问题。早期故事内容请看 第1部分 和 第2部分。第三部分仍在进行中，如下所示。

首先，非常感谢我的律师，泰勒·韦辛（TaylorWessing）的戴维·穆德（DavidMulder）先生，以及我的朋友和家人的支持，使得我们与荷兰海关投诉办公室团队有了进行了进一步的离线和在线交流。新的检查组以诚实和反歧视的态度彻底调查了该案件。不同于较早的调查（此调查没有承认荷兰海关的不良行为），该调查组得出了不同的结论。首先，这个调查组代表荷兰海关向我表示了诚挚的道歉，对其先前对我的海关检查方式以及对我投诉处理方式的不妥表示歉意。在2020年8月20日的一封信中，检查组还表示，他们对我在如此艰难时期（失去一个未出生的孩子）还蒙受海关如此待遇表示失望和道歉。

总体而言，检查组得出以下结论。

-  海关人员的行为是不专业的（在桌子上拍打，大拇指朝下的信号以及使用不良语言）。检查组对其海关没有较早组织会议讨论和解决此事深表抱歉。至此，我感谢荷兰海关调查小组勇于承认其组织的错误和不当行为的勇气和决心。

-  检查结论信中还提到，根据规定，海关有权检查从北京起飞航班的10％的乘客，但这只适用于有在扫描行李时发现有可疑东西出现时，才应打开行李。就我的案例而言，海关官员在没有（有效）理由的情况下开箱检查确实偏离了任务。因此，我的这一部分投诉是有充分根据的。关于这一部分，荷兰海关承认他们在实施该法规时的错误和雇员的错误。他们旨在对此部分进行更改和改进。

- 与我围巾有关的投诉部分（由于没有购买收据而被带走）也被认为是有根据的。检查信中指出，海关是有举证原产于欧盟以外地区产品的责任。但在任何情况下，乘客没有责任随身随时携带收据以证明物品的来源。只有在某些情况下，如果海关发现有令人怀疑的物品来自欧盟以外地区时，海关才可能要求有关旅客提供其他证据。但是，报告中没有提及或提供任何此类情况。在这里，检查组也给荷兰海关提出建议，强调让其雇员在此引起注意。

最后，检查组提到，我的案例教会了荷兰海关一个道理，海关内部现有的投诉流程的改善势在必行。他们还承认，关于乘客检查，我的案例表明，这种检查可能会出错。荷兰海关会按照其目标（公正行事）审查该如何改善这种检查，以防止对乘客的不公正选择和一切歧视行为。荷兰海关根据我在2020年8月6日提出的建议，将考虑监视此类检查和/或成立理事会以监督禁止和防止歧视。并商定在四个月后 （2020年12月）与我开展另一次会议专门讨论该计划的进展。

至此，距离我与荷兰海关的故事第一篇（文章）已有一年了，但与荷兰海关合作的旅程仍在继续。作为一名来自大学的教育工作者和研究人员，我愿意帮助荷兰海关继续进行组织变革和改善，期待荷兰海关愿意利用各个利益相关者的智慧和力量来实现体制创新，以继续提高荷兰的竞争地位。

随着荷兰海关不断地从错误中吸取教训，并打算让利益相关者参与组织变更，相信荷兰海关为了所有荷兰公民的福祉能够更快地变化、更好地成长、保持健康和更具可持续性发展的组织。

非常期待，下次再有人抵达史基浦机场时，他们不会拥有与我先前相同的经历。

与荷兰海关的故事

（1） https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/experience-dutch-customs-schiphol-airport-fairness-ying-zhang/

（2） 

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/justice-knowledge-continued-story-dutch-customs-正义与知识-ying-zhang/