Coordination of the programmes for Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) has been initiated but it is a slow process is. This is a good summary of the Swedish National Board of Trade study entitled:” Mutual recognition of AEO programmes Supply chain security and trade facilitation– progress report fall 2010”. The study is a follow-up of previous reports on the subject of supply chain security.
The EU and Japan signed an agreement on reciprocal recognition of AEO programmes on 24 June 2010. This is the eighth such agreement that has been signed to date. The National Board of Trade indicates in the report that this particular agreement has great advantages compared with earlier signed ”arrangements” made chiefly between the United States and its trade partners.
At the same time, the National Board of Trade welcomes the efforts of the customs authorities, in the EU and the major trading countries, in support of mutual recognition of their programmes for Authorised Economic Operators – AEOs. However, the National Board of Trade points out that there is plenty of work left to do, to ensure that companies are not involved in duplication of work due to the large number of AEO programmes that have been developed.
The customs authorities state that, to date, eight agreements concerning reciprocal recognition of AEO-programmes have been signed: New Zealand - Japan, USA – New Zealand, USA- Jordan, USA - Canada, USA – Japan, EU-Switzerland, EU-Norway and lately EU-Japan. In actual fact, only the EU-related agreements are binding. The others fall into the category of ”arrangements” which are not binding and give no [transparency] [link to the ABC]. The consequences of this are discussed in the report. The EU is at present negotiating on agreements with a further group of important trade partners. In this report, there is a description of the agreements entered into and the on-going negotiations and also the various questions they give rise to.
From a trade perspective it is important that the border passage is not encumbered by complicated customs proceedings or non-transparent rules and procedures. AEO programmes are an important tool in trade facilitation. In actual fact, the country that has a large amount of AEO companies, or a large part of its trade via AEO companies, has a considerable competitive advantage in that their supply chains flow more freely.
For many companies, however, the regulations may be difficult to comply with. This may apply particularly to small companies, but large companies also encounter special challenges in the certification process, especially when they have complex company structures. Simplifications that could possibly be offered to all companies in the supply chain are instead connected directly, in many cases, to a [certification] [link to the ABC]. The mere fact that many countries have developed special certification programmes, may be a problem for companies that by this consider themselves forced to attain certification in many different programmes.
Download the report here
Read more about supply chain security and download earlier reports in the subject here
Questions concerning the report may be addressed to Johan Pontén, National Board of Trade
Tel: + 46 8-690 49 76
Email: johan.ponten@kommers.se
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