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Taxation and Customs Union
News announcement8 December 2022Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union

EU-Brazil workshop on Authorised Economic Operators took place on 7-8 December

On 7 and 8 December, officials from the European Commission Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union (TAXUD), the EU Delegation in Brazil and representatives from EU Member States took part in a workshop on Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) with counterparts from Brazil.

The main purpose of this important workshop was to exchange information, experiences and best practices regarding each side’s respective AEO programmes, which are designed to simplify customs procedures for trusted traders who meet a range of criteria.

The AEO concept is globally recognised, and stems from the World Customs Organisations’ (WCO) SAFE Framework of Standards.  More than 130 operational AEO programmes or compliance programmes are currently in place worldwide.

AEO programmes aim to enhance international supply chain security and to facilitate legitimate trade. The programmes support risk management by determining operators as trusted traders with high quality standards. This allows risk management to move away their attention away from these low-risk operators and allows authorities to focus their attention and resources on high-risk consignments instead.

The AEO concept plays an important role in the EU’s bilateral cooperation relations with third countries. Once in force, the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement would provide the possibility to work towards AEO mutual recognition programme between the EU and Brazil.

This week’s meeting was organised through the EU’s Technical Assistance and Information Exchange instrument (TAIEX) and was co-organised with DG TAXUD and the EU Delegation to Brazil.

More information on the EU’s AEO programme is available here.

More information on EU TAIEX is here.

Details

Publication date
8 December 2022
Author
Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union