compliance e AEO

AEO and EU Customs union reform: EU Parliament report 20 February 2024

Febbraio 22, 2024 /

As we informed on 2023 the European Commission published on the official journal the “Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing the Union Customs Code and the European Union Customs Authority, and repealing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013”.

About the AEO, the mentioned document (n. Document 52023PC0258 and COM/2023/258 final) provides with the following provisions.

Firstly, about the “ex-post evluation/fitness checks of existing legislation” indicated into the explanotry memorandum “…the proposal undelines that “…Second, some tangible progress in improving the customs environment has been realised but does not evenly concern all the areas analysed in the evaluation. The UCC contributed to clarifying and harmonising customs rules, in order to reduce divergent approaches across Member States, such as in the areas of customs decisions, conditions for granting the status of Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) and in some special procedures. However, harmonisation is insufficient in certain other areas, in particular risk management and monitoring of the AEO status, and varied interpretations of rules continue to be a problem. Moreover, as many of the most significant changes introduced by the UCC, such as some simplifications to the customs clearance process (e.g. EU-level centralised clearance at import and related trade facilitations), are dependent on ongoing IT projects, many of the anticipated benefits of the UCC are yet to be realised…”. Thus, it stresses the need of a shared risk management and monitoring for the AEO status. We think that our analysises on legal nature and the monitoring obligation of AEO are a very interesting starting point for:

  1. Design of a new vision of the AEO shared and participated by customs authorities and economic operators;
  2. Develop inside the economic operatoros a tailor made monitoring system and reporting which is able to cover, at the same time, the main processeses related to the customs obligation and the other elements that indirectly impact on the reliability of the owner of an AEO status.

In such a perspective, the monitoring and the special care of the AEO can be the driver factors to forster the transition from the AEO to trust and check trader; indeed, the mentioned proposal in its point n.16 lays down that: “…The changes in the customs processes and the way of operating the customs authorities requires a new partnership with economic operators, that is the Trust and Check traders scheme. The criteria and conditions to become a Trust and Check trader should build on the AEO criteria but should also ensure that the trader is considered transparent for the customs authorities. It is therefore appropriate to require Trust and Check operators to grant the customs authorities access to their electronic systems keeping record of their compliance and the movement of their goods…”. In other words, “reliability” it is not enouth and it is required “transparency”.

Moreover, on 20 February 2024 the “Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection” of the EU Parliament published  the draft report “compromise amendments” Establishing the Union Customs Code and the European Union Customs Authority and repealing Regulation (EU) No 952/2013 Proposal for a Regulation” (COM(2023)258 – 2023/0156(COD)) which  modifies the above point n.16 by introducing an approach based on the proportionality of the administrative burden to the public interest to be protected and states that: “…The changes in the customs processes and the way of operating the customs authorities requires a new partnership with economic operators, that is the Trust and Check traders scheme. The criteria and conditions to become a Trust and Check trader should build on the AEO criteria but should also ensure that the trader is considered transparent for the customs authorities. It is therefore appropriate to require Trust and Check operators to grant the customs authorities access to their electronic systems keeping record of their compliance and the movement of their goods, provided that such access is proportionate and strictly necessary. The transparency should be accompanied by certain benefits, notably the possibility to release the goods on behalf of customs without the necessity for their active intervention, except where a pre-release approval is required by other legislation applied by the customs authorities and to defer the payment of the customs debt…”.