Customs and the private sector analyzed this Tuesday (25.05.2021/XNUMX/XNUMX) how to expand the scope of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Program for micro, small and medium-sized electronic foreign trade companies. With an attendance of 3600 participants and within the framework of the 5th Conference of the AEO of the World Customs Organization (WCO), the meeting was held, mostly online, together with the Federal Customs Authority of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with the support of Korean Customs.
El Deputy Secretary General of the WCO, Ricardo Treviño, when moderating a round table, invited speakers to share their perspectives on facilitating and standardizing the Trusted and Secure Economic Operator Program, whose accreditation is granted by a customs administration. He also proposed to examine the opportunities for improvement and the necessary steps to ensure that this WCO flagship tool more effectively supports the sustainability, recovery and security of supply chains.
The Vice President of the WCO for the Americas and the Caribbean Region and Superintendent of Customs of Guatemala, Werner Ovalle, He considered, as one of the main challenges for customs, the need to incorporate micro, small and medium-sized enterprises into the concept of Authorized Economic Operators to ensure and facilitate global trade.
“Guatemala Customs, like other administrations at the international level, has noticed the increase in the volume of e-commerce. During the most critical period of the COVID-19 pandemic, e-commerce became the means through which goods were urgently distributed,” said Werner Ovalle.
In this regard, the Vice President of the WCO for the Americas and the Caribbean clarified: “In these times of economic reactivation and recovery, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises are an area of opportunity to be included in trade facilitation and in the Authorized Economic Operator Program.”. To this end, he gave examples of measures adopted in Guatemala, such as the incorporation of SMEs into tax relief schemes, the digital transformation of procedures to facilitate registration and compliance processes, and also the use of smart applications to provide automated information.
Among the recommendations, Werner Ovalle pointed out The importance of working in secure business networks in which large companies carry out their work jointly with customs through the AEO Program. By including their suppliers of raw materials, supplies or outsourced services (which are micro and medium-sized companies), alliances are established, facilitating the AEO Program schemes to cascade to the entire network of suppliers.
"It is important to establish a new vision for the OAS 2.0 Program. This forces us to update ourselves.”, highlighted the head of the OMA in the Americas and the Caribbean. He explained that extending the benefits of the OEA 2.0 to other operators in the logistics chain should be based on pillar two of the SAFE Framework (customs-companies) to build a secure information exchange platform that allows Customs to access data in real time and safely. It must be taken into account that the AEO manages a disruptive business based on cyberspace. Therefore, Ovalle clarified: "Customs must adapt its valuation and control method to be in line with the 21st Century Customs model."
The WCO Regional Vice President encouraged customs to update themselves with technological tools to accredit and certify all companies as AEOs for the purposes of their competitiveness and the sustainability, recovery and security of international supply chains.
“This requires changing the traditional view of conducting face-to-face checks (…) Customs' commitment to technology is increasingly important and the WCO is a strategic player in providing us with the best practices in these processes,” he concluded.
The Global Conference, which features more than ten panels, features speakers from around the world, from customs officials to business representatives and technology experts, as well as members of international organizations and governments.
WCO Secretary-General Kunio Mukuriya, Director of Dubai Customs HE Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Executive Chairman of Ports Customs and Free Zone Corporation L. Sultan Bin Sulayem, Commissioner of Korea Customs Service Jae Hyeon Lim, Customs and Security Advisor Global Express Association Dietmar Jost, CEO of Global Trade Solutions Louise Wiggett and Director of Customs Valuation Department and AEO Programme Dubai Customs Eman Badr Al Suwaidy are among the prominent names at the 5th WCO Global Authorized Economic Operators Conference.
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