IBEC together with PricewaterhouseCoopers today host a briefing to highlight the benefits and practicalities of the new measure Authorised Economic Operator, which is designed to keep Irish trade at the forefront of efficient supply chain management.
Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) is a self-certification status for companies moving goods internationally, affecting not only importers and exporters but also hauliers, freight forwarders, warehousekeepers, distributors, manufacturers and customs clearance agents etc. It has been developed by the EU as a response to global terrorist attacks and threats to make the movement of goods into, through and out of the EU more secure. It will come into effect on 1 January 2008.
Addressing the conference, Damian McCarthy, Partner, PwC Customs and International Trade, said:
“AEO will be a key driver in the shaping of European trade facilitation. It will mark the move towards effective public private partnership between the EU customs authorities and traders operating to share responsibility for the implementation of best practice in supply chain security and trade facilitation.”
Effectively AEO operators self-certify that they have strong internal controls, security procedures and compliance arrangements in place right across their supply chain.
Damian McCarthy continued:
"By successfully applying for, and being certified, for the AEO status, a company will be able to show its suppliers that it is has met best practices in this important business critical field. While AEO certification is voluntary,it will be akin to a 'gold medal' or 'kitemark' acknowledging a company's experience and high standing in this area. We urge Irish companies to adopt the certification process early in order to capture the competitive advantage early adoption offers to companies competing in the global market. "
The US have introduced a similar standard for its traders - Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). This has been in place since 2002 and, although it is also a voluntary scheme, by mid-2004 over three quarters of the top 100 US importers had signed up for participation.
The EU and the US are in discussions to agree that the AEO and C-TPAT certification status will be mutually recognisable. From an EU perspective this should ease the movement of goods into the US. For US multinationals operating in the EU, mutual recognition of C-TPAT by EU authorities would reduce duplication of security measures undertaken for C-TPAT and required to meet EU AEO status.
Many other trading nations and regions like Australia and APEC are also introducing AEO certification regimes and work is in progress to agree mutual recognition of all certificates on a global basis.
