EU Authorized Economic Operator Programme

The EU AEO Programme introduced flexibilities into the standards to be used by the EU MS government when examining applications for the AEO status. The objective is to minimise costs and burdens of the authorisation process for AEO for SME.

These flexibilities are embedded in the legal rule. The Union Customs Code (UCC ) Implementing Act (EU) 2015/2447 from 24 November 2015, Article 29 Examination of criteria (4)requires that
“the customs authorities shall take due account of the specific characteristics of economic operators, in particular of small and medium-sized companies, when examining the fulfilment of the AEO criteria […] “.

This means that the AEO programme is open to all economic operators including SME and the conditions and criteria for an AEO authorisation are the same for all economic operators. But MS administrations can grant flexibilities to SME in particular with a view of the examination of the criteria for the authorisation . They can implement different measures to fulfil the AEO criteria or to demonstrate conformity with the criteria, depending on size of the operator.

In addition EU AEO application guidelines drafted by the EU Commission and made available for the EU MS administrations gives further guidance on how the flexibility should be applied in practice.

• With regards to the expected internal organisation and control of Customs matter and flow of goods, the applicant has to demonstrate that it has “an administrative organisation which corresponds to the type and size of business and which is suitable for the management of the flow of goods, and has internal controls capable of preventing, detecting and correcting errors and of preventing and detecting illegal or irregular transactions”. This includes “written procedures and working instructions with clear description of the processes, the competences and representation in case of absence”. SMEs however can demonstrate compliance with this requirement through other measures considered appropriate by the Certifying Authority. “For micro and small businesses such expectations can also be met by other appropriate measures which are to be demonstrated to the ICA”.
  
• With regards to the availability of a designated staff working on Customs matter who has three years proven experience with Customs matters, and who has clearly assigned responsibilities. The manual indicates that
  “In case the applicant is an SME, especially a micro or small company (e.g. a family business), it can have a different management and organisational structure without a real distinction of the internal roles or working position. In this case the applicant`s formal statement could be considered sufficient”.
  
• With regards to Appropriate Access controls the manual recommends that “While checking this condition, it is of great importance to take due account of the specific characteristics of SMEs. Even though SMEs have to comply with the same requirements as a Large Scale Enterprise (LSE) with regard to the internal control procedures for access, different solution may be suitable for them concerning access controls”. These different solutions can include instead of dedicated security personnel(i) an enclosed fence equipped with an intercom to allow access remote control to the site,
  (ii) an instruction recalling the obligation to maintain the shipping areas’ doors lock closed and that the doors must be equipped with a bell for the drivers who want to access the shipping area,
  (iii) no need to issue identification tags to all staff and visitors, this might not be necessary in case of SMEs.
• With regards to Security Awareness training “The mechanisms for the education and training of personnel regarding security policies should be appropriate to the size of the enterprise (For example, for micro SMEs, an oral training, however documented, and a recall of basic security and safety requirements in the general security and safety procedures or a simple note of awareness, initialled by the staff concerned may be accepted by customs authorities”

(*1) The Union Customs Code adopted by the EU Parliament and European Council on 9 October 2013 (EU) No 952/2013 entered into force on 1 May 2016
(*2) Article 39 UCC lists 5 criteria related to
(i) compliance track record;
(ii) high level of control of operations and of the flow of goods;
(iii) financial solvency;
(iv) practical standards of competence or professional qualifications directly related to the activity carried out;
(v) appropriate security and safety standards