The Procomex-Receita Federal (Federal Revenue) international seminar on authorized economic operators (AEO) in Sao Paulo, Brazil, is considered a key moment in the efforts implemented to improve and simplify foreign trade in the Americas and the Caribbean.
More than 460 attendees from border control agencies (Customs, Agriculture and Health), as well as companies and international organizations such as the Organization of American States, World Bank, IDB, among others, will be meeting on March 13 and 14 to discuss the issue "OAS, Electronic Commerce and Coordinated Border Management«. The seminar is held every year, but this occasion is unique: 2024 commemorates the 10 years of the Brazilian OAS Program and the 20 years of existence of Procomex.
Expectations are high. This alliance of companies has agreed to work with the Brazilian government through cooperation to modernize customs procedures.
Progress has been made in this regard. Over the years, Procomex has actively implemented this collaboration with the customs authority; in this sense, the AEO is considered a strategic figure in the Federal Treasury to facilitate trade.
Addressing this task also requires strengthening cooperation between agencies involved in the border, which is achieved through the “Coordinated Border Management” approach. For this reason, the OAS International Seminar with representatives of Customs, Agriculture and Health from Brazil and the region is an initiative of the Federal Revenue Service.
Additionally, the event will also be an opportunity to address e-commerce, whose growth has exceeded the normal operations of foreign trade, creating challenges for governments and operators of the global economy. Thus, Brazil has recently implemented the Remessa Conforme Program.
Ten years after the Brazilian OAS Program, the 2024 International Seminar will provide an opportunity to advance the aforementioned issues and revitalize the spirit of cooperation in order to increase cross-border facilitation and security in the region.
Preparation. Procomex and the Federal Revenue Service are responsible for the preparations for the 2024 International Seminar and during the event itself. In order to ensure an effective contribution, a program was arranged that involves conferences and technical panels with distinguished guests, including: Lars Karlsson (Global Director of Trade and Customs Consulting at Maersk), Marcelo Martinez (Project Manager of the CICTE/OAS Security Program), Fabio Baracat (Founder and CEO of Sinerlog), José Raúl Perales (Director of the Trade Department at CIPE; also, Deputy Director of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation) and Ernani Checcucci (Senior Trade Facilitation Specialist at the World Bank).
Challenges and achievements. Since September 11, 2001, international reality has shown that we are living in a world that operates through the interaction of networks, which blur the difference between the internal and the external. Hence, the challenges of trade and security that arise are many. To face these challenges, Brazil does not work in isolation. The OAS event - which receives support from the Organization of American States, the World Bank, the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation, the United States Embassy, as well as large private sector companies - is a force in the region that encourages working together to obtain real benefits from this cooperation; for this reason, it is worth recalling its evolution in previous years.
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- The first OAS International Seminar was held in 2014It was an opportunity to learn about the benefits that the Brazilian OAS Program could offer to participating companies.
- The opportunity led Brazil to launch the Compliance Module of its OAS Program during the second International Seminar in 2015.
- Being recognized as an AEO represents the possibility of benefiting from Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRA) established between customs or governments between two or more countries. This was the objective of the third International Seminar in 2016, the occasion on which the MRA was signed between the customs of Brazil and Uruguay. From an internal point of view, the Federal Revenue Service and MAPA signed a joint ordinance for the launch of the Integrated Module OAS Program.
- Also, the fourth International Seminar in 2017 This led to the expansion of AEO Programs in the Southern Cone. Several speakers explained their practical experiences of development, from the point of view of companies and customs, in search of a standardized framework for the authorization of Authorized Economic Operators, offering a stable platform for the development of international systems of mutual recognition. This is how the idea of a Regional AEO was launched. In this context, Brazil and Bolivia signed an MRA of their AEO programs.
- These efforts led to the fifth OAS International Seminar in 2018, where the intention to improve security with the OAS Program in the Americas was demonstrated. That is to say, the customs directors of the nine countries -present- signed a commitment to develop a Regional Agreement of Mutual Recognition. This commitment was called the “São Paulo Declaration”. In parallel, Brazil signed an MRA with Peru.
- As a result of the above, at the OAS International Seminar in 2019 The “Addendum to the São Paulo Declaration” was signed, which added border control bodies such as Health, Agriculture and Security from more than 11 countries in an effort to develop the Regional Integrated OAS Program. Likewise, the National Directors of MERCOSUR Customs signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) of their OAS Programs.
- After the pandemic, the International Seminar in 2020 It was developed for the first time in digital format, with the theme “Coming out of the crisis more competitive.”
- With that in mind, the International Seminar in 2022 This was the step towards the signing of the Regional Agreement on Mutual Recognition between 11 countries. This agreement between Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay has the potential to boost intraregional trade by making it simpler, faster and more profitable.
- But in addition to this, the OAS International Seminar in 2023 It was essential to promote Coordinated Border Management, the Integrated OAS Program, as well as to analyze the growth of electronic commerce operations.
Look forward This is what characterizes the efforts of Procomex-Receita Federal. In other words, it is an initiative to transform borders-separation into borders-cooperation, with a multiplying effect on development, where safe trade in the region makes a decisive contribution. To achieve this, the OAS International Seminar 2024 will move forward in that direction, with the aforementioned topic.
- Date: 13 and 14 March of 2024
- Location: Renaissance Hotel, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
- www: https://procomex.org.br/
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
