A Joint Statement was signed in Brussels on 23 June 2011.

To read the full statement, click here.

We have selected the following in the Joint Statement:

“The EU and the US have the largest bilateral trade relationship and, together, account for about one-third of world trade. Other nations rely on transit through our airports, seaports and land border crossings. The partnership between the EU and the US protects these vital economic ties, sets an example and promotes consensus in other organisations. We commit ourselves to continuing our robust dialogue. Through advance communication, prior to taking action, we can be better prepared to respond efficiently and in unison to new treats as they evolve. We should:

• Develop bilateral, cross-agency cooperation and coordination to achieve better integration of customs security procedures with other border security controls, in order to enhance security and efficiency at a lower cost for trade and public authorities;
• Implement mutual recognition of EU and US trade partnership programmes (AEO and C-TPAT);”

The benefits and advantages related to the AEO status of economic operators have been widely spread. The most important being the reduced guarantee, quick change to emergency procedures and the good reputation of the AEO company with respect to security in their supply chain. But do you know that the status can be withdrawn, revoked or suspended?

In principle the AEO certificate is not time-limited. However, situations may arise which require the certificate to be reviewed. Customs administrations have two working methods to verify whether the conditions for AEO status are satisfactory, i.e. reassessment and monitoring.

Reassessment has been regulated by the CCIP and serves to verify that the AEO still meets the conditions at a certain point of time. It will usually be carried out if the legal situation changes or if there is evidence that the holder of the certificate does not meet or no longer meets the AEO criteria. In addition, the customs administration can perform monitoring. This possibility is also provided by the CCIP which permits checks to be carried out on an on-going basis and in the absence of a special event.

Withdrawal: It is possible to cancel or withdraw an AEO certificate when:
1/ it has been issued by an authority without requisite jurisdiction over the subject-matter; 2/ it has been obtained by unfair means such as deceit, threats or bribery; 3/ the beneficiary has obtained the status by providing information which was essentially incorrect or incomplete; 4/ the beneficiary was aware of its illegality, or was unaware thereof due to gross negligence.

Revocation: An AEO status may be revoked in whole or in part:
1/ if the economic operator has failed to take the necessary remedial measures to comply with the requirements of the relevant AEO certificate and therefore does not meet the certification requirements; 2/ when serious infringements related to customs rules have been committed by the AEO and there is no further right of appeal 3/ upon request of the AEO.

Suspension: The AEO status can be suspended for three different reasons:
1/ non-compliance with the conditions or criteria for AEO certification, where the customs authority established that the operator does not comply with the conditions or criteria for the AEO certificate. This covers cases where the conditions did not exist at the time of the certification. 2/ Sufficient reasons to believe that a criminal act took place such as fraud, money laundry or the forgery of documents. 3/ upon request of the AEO.

Customs authorities are to communicate their findings to the concerned economic operator before taking a decision. The economic operator is entitled to correct the situation and/or express his point of view within 30 calendar days, starting from the date of communication. In the event of non-compliance with the conditions for an AEO certificate, the operator may take measures such as remedying safety deficiencies, improving customs processes, reorganising his accounts or restoring solvency. However, such measures are not possible in the event of the second reason for suspension, that is, where the customs authorities have sufficient reason to believe that an AEO has committed an offence.

A field research on this topic on the Belgian territory learns that 19 companies have revoked their application and 8 applications have been refused so far. Reasons for revocation or refusal of application are often solvency or safety deficiencies.

The agreement between the EU and Japan as part of secure AEO certification was signed June 24,2010. From April 1, 2011 starts the assigning of advantages. This means that certified companies in both the EU and Japan can expect fewer controls on their shipments.

This advantage is granted to holders of a European AEO certificate upon the Import procedure which possess the AEO certificate Safety (AEO-S) or the certificate simplified customs procedures/safety (AEO-F) and which gave consent regarding the exchange of AEO-data between the EU and partner countries.

Shipments from Japan: A temporary solution has been found to identify the Japanese certified companies in the customs systems. The Entry Summary Declaration should mention the code Y031 together with the data element ‘Transport document’ and the unique identifier of the Japanese holder of the AEO-certificate. Member States will gradually implement this solution or may use intermediate solutions to identify Japanese AEO certificate holders.

Shipments to Japan: Once you have granted the authorization for the exchange of information, you receive a specific identification number for Japan. This number should be used in the customs declaration which is presented to the Japanese Customs.

In contacts with the EU Customs Authorities you should always use the EORI number which is assigned to your company.

The EU Commission recently published specific guidelines on Authorised Economic Operator status (AEO) for multinational or large businesses (EU established or not). Most of the time they consist of a parent company and subsidiary companies and/or Permanent Business Establishments/branches. In these guidelines the Commission clearly defines:

• Subsidiary = an incorporated entity created in the host EU country (national business legal forms! ), its capital is fully owned by the parent company or it is controlled by a company in collaboration with minority local partners (a joint subsidiary). Subsidiairies are legally independent from their mother company.
• Branch = is not an individual legal entity and has no legal personality. A branch is an office/premise/another location of the company itself. A branch forms part of the company’s total assets.
• Permanent Business Establishment  = is a fixed place of business through which the business of an enterprise is wholly/partly carried out.

Regarding AEO application for the multinational or large business of an enterprise, the following scenarios are now foreseen:

• all subsidiairies/PBEs being separate legal entities shall apply separately for an AEO status.
• all branches/PBEs which are not individual legal entities cannot apply separately for an AEO status and one single application covering all of them shall be submitted by the parent company considered as a person according to the EU legislation.

Customs4trade assisted and assists several large and multinational companies with their AEO certification process in different Member States. Our own developped C4T AEO tool makes complex situations manageable:

• many different stakeholders
• stakeholders in different locations
• different legal entities
• different sites or business units
• different member states
• different languages

The C4T AEO tool is designed to reduce your project time for getting the AEO status and reduces efforts for your internal and external ressources. With the easy status reporting, you are in control of the process.

Click here to read more on these specific guidelines !

Between the EU Member States and the European Commission, a new AEO Self-Assessment Questionnaire was agreed in order to guarantee a uniform approach throughout the Member States. It aims to simplify and to speed up the AEO application.

The new Self-Assessment Questionnaire is harmonized at European level. However, depending on whether the Customs Administration of a Member State already disposes of access to information (e.g. sections 2 and 4), not all questions have to be answered in every Member State.

The Member States dispose of a transitional period till 31 December 2010 to adapt their internal procedures and language versions. They can start to use the new Self-Assessment Questionnaire before the end of this transitional period, but they have to keep in mind the needs of the economic operators.

Customs Authorities of the Member States will ensure smooth processing of the applications already submitted with the old version of the self-assessment questionnaire.  Of course our C4T AEO tool will keep up with the most updated information.

As soon as a Member State starts using the new Self-Assessment Questionnaire, this will be published here.