compliance e AEO

AEO, compliance and special report 2023 European Court Auditors

Maggio 6, 2023 /

AEO

On 5.05.2023 the European court of auditors published the “Special report 13/2023: Authorised Economic Operators – Solid customs programme with untapped potential and uneven implementation”.

In this document, the Court highlights:

  1. About the process: “… The AEO programme is implemented by Member States, whose customs authorities are responsible for granting and managing AEO authorisations in the EU. Member States customs authorities can grant AEO status to any economic operator established in the EU’s customs territory, if the economic operator meets certain EU-wide criteria established in the UCC…” and “…Member States must have clear authorisation processes in place, with detailed national instructions and procedures…”.
  2. About the measuring the performance: “…The legislation and guidelines governing the AEO programme must ensure that AEO status is granted only to legitimate and reputable traders. It must also grant meaningful benefits to these traders to simplify their customs procedures…”. The customs unit performance control lacks of adequate KPI;
  3. About the infringment of the tax and customs legislations: “… We found that one of the eligibility criteria, relating to compliance with customs legislation and taxation rules, was unclear and had been interpreted differently in various Member States. AEO status cannot be granted to traders who have seriously or repeatedly infringed customs or taxation rules applying to their economic activity. The criterion applies to: (i) applicants; (ii) employees in charge of the applicants’ customs matters; and (iii) persons in charge of the applicant, or who exercise control over the applicant’s management…”. This criterion should cover all the infrigments related to trade compliance rules (like: Fgas, timber and forest related goods);
  4. About the benefits: “…Customs authorities must grant benefits to AEOs from the EU and from non-EU countries which have signed a MRA with the EU12 (see Figure 5). The benefits, which are set out in the UCC, are mandatory…” and again: – “…Equal treatment of AEOs across the EU encourages traders to apply for the AEO programme…”: – “…However, unequal treatment of AEOs within the EU does not ensure a level playing field in the single market and increases operational and financial risks related to customs operations and the EU budget.

The Court of Auditors report recommends:

  1. To improve the regulatory framework of the EU AEO programme, the Commission should: (a) elaborate the concept of “serious and repeated infringements”; (b) make it mandatory for consulted Member States’ customs authorities to reply to consultations about the fulfilment of the AEO criteria in the AEO legislation; and (c) provide explanations on the priority treatment of AEO consignments selected for control in the AEO Guidelines.
  2. To delevelop a system of monitoring: “…The Commission, together with Member States, should improve the common framework for measuring the performance of the EU AEO programme…” and  “…the Commission should regularly monitor the correct application of the AEO programme under the UCC legislation and the mutual recognition agreements and, in particular: (a) regularly monitor that Member States grant the entitled benefits to all AEOs; (b) monitor that Member States coordinate their monitoring actions for AEO traders with permanent business establishments in other Member States; and (c) monitor that Member States consistently use the economic operators system for registering all AEO authorisation management actions….”.