AEO

DelITad specialises in the link between business processes and ICT. ICT is indispensable within business processes in the current business environment. And if we consider the current business environment, there is an increasingly stronger trend toward regularisation and standardisation, which in turn result in new certificates for which companies can be assessed.

One of these emerging certificates is Authorised Economic Operator (AEO)

Definition

The AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) status is awarded to every economic operator who has an appropriate record of compliance, meets certain criteria concerning control systems and financial solvency and, in certain cases, complies with certain security and safety standards.

A certified company can be defined as an economic operator that has been awarded an AEO certificate and is thus considered throughout the EU as a reliable company in the context of his customs-related operations, and, therefore, is entitled to enjoy benefits throughout the Community.

Recognition of the status is certified by the provision of an AEO certificate.

The AEO concept – safety and security – and the logistics chain

The different companies in the supply chain depend on the safety and security procedures of their business partners for the safety and security of their goods as well as the preservation of their AEO status. An operator with an AEO certificate will encourage its business partners, if necessary, to improve the safety and security of the supply chain and include any related obligations in contracts. An operator with an AEO certificate needs to keep all the documents which prove it has done everything necessary in terms of safety and security of the part of the supply chain covered by this AEO.

In the international supply chain there are different stakeholders which have, according to their part in this chain, different responsibilities. To assess the operator’s supply chain security capabilities, different sets of criteria have to be fulfilled depending on the operator’s responsibility within the supply chain.

Based on this AEO concept, the Belgian Customs and Excise Administration has worked out the implementation of these European regulations, using the following key elements:

- introduction of a new control methodology – horizontal supervision – based on trust in the economic operator, particularly in terms of processes, safety and security systems and internal controls;

• taking into account the different existing certificates (ISO, ISPS, C-TPAT, SOX,…) which the economic operator is able to submit;
• secure logistics chain concept – with ‘reliable’ economic operators comprising this chain – implies that the current transaction-based controls on goods need to be replaced by system-based controls;
• introduction of a new organisational structure of the Belgian Customs and Excise Administration itself and new methodologies that are focused on customer treatment and no longer based exclusively on individual declarations.

 

 DelITad AEO Services

AEO Coaching

In the DelITad AEO coaching process, our consultants help clients during their implementation. This means they do not execute the project but provide advice on the sidelines. They fulfil the following tasks:

• Provide AEO expertise;
• Review deliverables;
• Attend status meetings;
• Attend functional decision meetings;
• Reconciliations between analysis and design, design and built, and built and implementation;
• Post-implementation review, ending with ‘lessons learned’.

These contribute to:

• Better controls;
• Better anticipation of assessment of decisions to avoid panic;
• Allocating clear responsibilities to actions;
• Minimising the impact on project objectives;
• Better service delivery;
• Improving change management;
• More efficient use of resources;
• Meeting stakeholder expectations.

 

AEO Self-assessment Assistance

If a company does not know exactly how to launch an AEO process, this self-assessment, with the assistance of a DelITad expert, is the perfect way to assess what the impact would be for the company. Their assistance comprises the following steps.

Step 1 – Understanding the organisation & determining the scope

At the first meeting the following aspects are laid down again:

• Introduction;
• Scope of the project;
• Agreements regarding project documentation;
• Definition of ‘discussion partners’.

 

Following the communication and confirmation of these agreements, the actual content of the work can be discussed.

 

Step 2 – Conducting the assessment

The assessment is conducted on the basis of the self-assessment document issued by the Customs and Excise administration. This self-assessment comprises the following parts:

1. Information about the company
2. Record of compliance with customs requirements
3. Accounting and logistical system
4. Solvency
5. Safety and security requirements

 

Step 3 – Formulate advice

The advice can be formulated based on the score in the previous step. This advice comprises:

• A concrete description of the controls required;
• An estimate of the costs of implementing these controls. Please note that the estimate at the end of the second day can only be given with regard to the documentation of processes and procedures and the implementation of the changes of business processes. A recognised contractor must be contacted if changes in the construction are necessary.

A closing meeting will be organised based on this advice. At this meeting the results will be discussed with the stakeholders.

Method?

• Report in Word, Excel
• Closing meeting to discuss the results

Deliverables?

• End report

Implementation

DelITad can also assist you in implementing all the necessary elements to successfully apply for AEO certification. Our implementation can include several elements to help you attain certification:

• Definition
• GAP analysis
• Documentation
•  Implementation
• Certification audits
•  Courses

Validation

Here, DelITad offers its clients the opportunity of a short check-up of the compiled file before it is sent to the Belgian Customs and Excise Administration.

This comprises the following actions:

• Introduction meeting with senior management for a better understanding of the business.

 

• Review of the file documentation. This includes the correctness and completeness of process descriptions. Completeness refers to the fact that the description of the business processes contains all elements that a description requires according to the rules: flow, description, responsibilities, stakeholders,… To verify the correctness, a spot check will be carried out. Based on the processes, a number of process steps will be selected and analysed. This means that the people in these process steps will be interviewed again to ensure all aspects have been included.

 

• GO – NO GO decision and possible report with respect to improvement proposals.