Deloitte Tax: A Customs International Premiere The US and the European Union seal an agreement for mutual recognition of economic operators

The EU and the US have developed a customs matching procedure with the mutual recognition of the European Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program and the United States Customs - Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program. The mutual recognition's purpose is to promote harmonization of customs practices and procedures all around the world.

Hence, the EU and the US have agreed for the first time on an automatic data exchange mechanism concerning relevant data of AEO holders.

The Authorized Economic Operator status is granted to economic operators established on the EU territory who fulfill certain criteria of safety and security and can benefit from advantages in the relations with the customs authorities. A similar status was developed by the customs authorities from USA trough the Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program.

"This web application satisfies the need for a matching procedure, associating the European Economic Operators Registration and Identification (EORI) number with the Manufactures Identification Number (MID) used in the United States,” explains Mihai Petre, Senior Manager Customs & Global Trade within Deloitte Romania. "The match established between the EORI number and the MID numbers enables AEO certificate holders to receive favorable treatment from the United States customs authorities, being mutually recognized,” he concludes.

The web application for mutual recognition can be accessed after registration starting August, 1, 2012, via the following link: http://mrctpat.cbp.dhs.gov.

AEO certificate holders with a safety and security component who want to benefit from the mutual recognition of AEO and C-TPAT can register via this web application.

"If one company exports goods to the United States, it gets a MID number. It is possible that the company has no knowledge of that MID number, in which case the company should contact the business partner from the United States. When a company has several MID numbers, it is necessary to match the EORI number to each of these MID numbers,” adds Mihai Petre.

As a result, the European legislation adds another benefit for AEOs, those trustful partners of the customs authorities. Facilities accessible to AEOs at a European level include customs simplifications, minimum controls from customs authorities, advance notifications, choice of physical control location, etc.