Preventing terrorism costs international business more than 100 billion euros (121 billion dollars), the German federation for external trade (BGA) said in a report on Thursday. Small and medium-sized firms are especially hard-hit as they have to pay for the installation of computer systems to handle customs formalities, the federation's president Anton Boerner told a press conference to present the report.
This month's bombings of underground trains and a bus in London that killed 56 people will cause the cost of security measures for exporters to rise further, Boerner said.
"Alongside governments, the economy can and must make its contribution towards the increase in security.
"It is always a question of finding the right balance between security demands on one side and the legitimate interests of trade on the other," Boerner said.
But he criticised "exaggerated and costly security measures... which add no extra security to the flow of international trade".
As the world's leading exporter, Germany has a special interest in the costs of safeguarding its products when they are shipped abroad.
The federation estimates that German companies can shoulder ten percent, equivalent to 10 billion euros, of the cost.
Boerner said however that German companies were often first to implement security measures, which means they could suffer disproportionately if new measures were introduced.
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