Security concerns have forced many States to pay increased attention to the international supply chain. Particularly, the World Customs Organization (WCO) recognized these developments by drafting a Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate global trade (SAFE).
Under such programs, the economic operators involved in the international supply chain (i.e. manufacturers, importers, exporters, etc.) may apply for AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) status. By means of the accreditation system, national customs authorities can more easily facilitate legitimate trade while also freeing up capacity to investigate high-risk trade.
The US C-TPAT program, EU's and South Korea's AEO security programs are an example of such programs, which are based on the principle that companies that demonstrate compliance with certain security and customs compliance standards, can benefit from simplified customs procedures and in some cases the right to 'fast-track' the shipments through the ordinary customs safety and security checks.
Therefore, such programs give to the companies involved in international trade, a competitive advantage (in terms of money savings and quicker shipments) toward their competitors which do not have such status.
In this respect, we provide pre-audit advisory through:
• the performance of a preliminary mapping of the company’s internal customs, accounting, IT and logistics procedures;
• identifying the AEO risk areas;
• suggesting the corrective actions to be made in order to obtain a higher degree of AEO reliability;
• filing the AEO request with the competent authorities.