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2016 OAS Guidelines

3.III.4.1. General provisions

Given their activities, different economic operators must comply with different rules and regulations, beyond the requirements for obtaining AEO status. The AEO program attempts to consider and apply pre-existing standards and certifications or authorizations, without requiring additional certifications or authorizations to become an AEO.

Although economic operators do not always need to have AEO status to obtain the simplification authorisation provided under customs rules, certain simplifications require compliance with certain AEO criteria or part of the AEO criteria to obtain the relevant authorisation (see also point 1.III.1 of these Guidelines).

In order to expedite the processing of applications and reduce the time required for audits, customs authorities should, whenever possible, use information they already have on applicants. Such information may come specifically from:

  • prior applications for customs authorizations and the results of the authorization process;
  • information previously communicated to customs or other public authorities and available or accessible to them;
  • information on customs audits and their results;
  • the customs procedures applied or the declarations made by the applicant;
  • the current regulations applicable to the applicant and the certifications or authorizations held by the applicant;
  • the existing results of the assessment or audit carried out in accordance with Union legislation, to the extent that they are relevant to the examination of the criteria (Article 29(2) of the UCC EA) and the existing conclusions of the relevant experts (Article 29(3) of the UCC EA).

In any case, depending on the specific circumstances and especially the date of the information in question, customs authorities may need to conduct a re-examination or seek confirmation from other authorities to verify that the information remains valid (in whole or in part).

Special attention will be paid to those cases where legislation provides for the automatic recognition of safety and security standards, namely:

  • where the applicant is an accredited agent or a known consignor, the safety and security criteria shall be deemed to be met in relation to the places and operations for which the applicant has obtained the status of accredited agent or known consignor to the extent that the criteria for issuing accredited agent or known consignor status are identical or equivalent to those set out in Article 39(e) of the UCC (Article 28(3) of the AE UCC; See also Part 3, Section III, point 4.2. [letter b) of these Guidelines];
  • Where the applicant holds a protection and safety certificate issued on the basis of an international convention, an international standard of the International Organization for Standardization, or a European standard of a European standardization body, this certificate shall be taken into account when verifying compliance with the protection and safety criteria. Where it has been established that the criteria for issuing such a certificate are identical or equivalent to those set out in Article 39(e) of the UCC (Article 28(2), first subparagraph, of the AE UCC), the criteria shall be deemed to have been met. Where the applicant holds a safety and security certificate issued by a third country with which the Union has concluded an agreement providing for the recognition of that certificate (Article 28(2), second subparagraph, of the CAU AE), the criteria shall be deemed to have been met.

This provision shall only apply to certificates issued by certification bodies accredited(19) or by national customs authorities.

Furthermore, there are a large number of international and national standards and certifications, as well as conclusions formulated by experts in the fields of accounting, financial solvency, or safety and security standards, which the EEA may accept pursuant to Article 29(3) of the EEA CAU. In these cases, the presentation of a certificate does not mean that the corresponding AEO criterion is automatically met, nor that it will never be checked again. Rather, it will be up to the competent customs authority to determine whether the criteria are met and, if so, to what extent.

In this context, there are several indicators that can be considered to assess whether and to what extent a certificate or standard is relevant and substantial, and whether it can be useful in the application process for AEO status. Below are some of such indicators:

  • Who issued the certificate, or who is competent to grant the standard? Is the certificate or authorization granted by an authority or a third party? Is the third party internationally accredited?
  • How is the certificate or authorization granted? Are the relevant controls carried out by an authority (examples in Part 3, Section III, Section 4.2 of these Guidelines) through self-assessment by the operator, or is the verification carried out by an independent, accredited third party?
  • Has an on-site audit been carried out, or just a desk review?
  • What reasons lead the operator to request the certificate or authorization?
  • Does the company handle the certification or authorization process, or does it involve a consultant employed by the company?
  • Is the certificate or authorization valid for the entity as a whole, for a specific center, or for a single process?
  • When was the certificate or authorization issued? When was the last audit carried out? What were the conclusions of this?

The list of known standards and certificates or authorizations below is not exhaustive. Due to the diversity of economic operators' activities, as well as national specificities, only the most common ones are included.

It should be noted that applicants may submit information to the competent customs authority on all standards they comply with and any certificates or authorizations they hold, which may affect the criteria for obtaining such status. It will then check whether and to what extent these can be taken into account. The same applies if the economic operator has been advised by an independent authority or institution in cases with an influence on the criteria for obtaining AEO status that do not give rise to certification or authorization (e.g., e.g., tailored recommendations from local police on crime prevention on the ground, training programs).

It's also worth noting that to become an AEO, you don't need to hold any of these certificates or authorizations, nor do you need to receive advice from third parties. If any certificates or authorizations are available, they may be useful to the customs authorities (see also the CAE Explanatory Notes for sections 3 and 6 relating to the accounting and logistics system and to protection and security requirements).

Please also note that it will always be the applicant's responsibility to demonstrate compliance with the criteria for obtaining AEO status.

(19) MLA (Multilateral Recognition Agreement) or MRA. See also www.european-accreditation.org(Back)