Customs simplifications
Fewer controls, access to simplified procedures, reduced guarantees, priority handling of authorisation applications.
Who it suits operators handling a significant volume of declarations and using customs authorisations.
Authorised Economic Operator is the highest level of trust a European customs administration can place in a business. We support the whole process end to end: preliminary audit, bringing you into compliance, filing the application, being there during the customs audit, then keeping the status alive.
Authorised Economic Operator status certifies that a business has command of its customs compliance, its operational risks and the security of its supply chain. It stems from the SAFE standards of the World Customs Organization and now sits in Articles 38 and 39 of the Union Customs Code (Regulation (EU) No 952/2013).
This is not a marketing label. It is a formal partnership between the business and customs, built on transparency, command of processes and the quality of internal control. The administration agrees to lighten its supervision because the business demonstrates that it supervises itself.
That is also what explains how demanding the procedure is: this is not an administrative form to fill in, it is a level of command to be demonstrated, with evidence.
Fewer controls, access to simplified procedures, reduced guarantees, priority handling of authorisation applications.
Who it suits operators handling a significant volume of declarations and using customs authorisations.
Facilitations at controls on entry to and exit from the Union, reduced ENS data, mutual recognition outside the EU.
Who it suits players present at the Union's points of entry and exit, and exporters to countries with mutual recognition.
Combines the benefits of AEOC and AEOS. The most complete status, and the most widely recognised internationally.
Who it suits manufacturers importing and exporting, running both flows under authorisation and cross-border supply chains.
Choosing the status is not a matter of preference: it follows from the real profile of your flows. It is one of the first questions the preliminary audit settles.
Guarantee on potential debts
Complete waiver. Without AEO, you must guarantee 100 %.
Guarantee on debts already incurred
Against 100 % without the status. The effect on cash flow is immediate.
Authorisations made lighter
The criminal record extract is no longer required: SDE, EIR, CGU, CVA, AWB, ACR, ACE, ACT, ACP,
ETD, SSE.
Measure the effect on your own guarantees →
The application is filed through the EU Trader Portal with the AGD&A — the Belgian customs and excise administration — at the office responsible for the place where the main customs records are kept.
The official European form, the Belgian self-assessment — a six-section questionnaire covering the criteria of Article 39 UCC — and ten compulsory annexes.
Once the application is found admissible, the file passes to the CRES (Senior Enterprise Risk Coordinator) at the competent regional centre.
The CRES has 120 calendar days, extendable, to carry out the audit: review of documents, site visits, interviews and tests of operational effectiveness.
The audit leads to an external control plan signed by the operator, then to the decision granting the status.
The authorisation is valid without time limit and across the 27 Member States. It is reviewed periodically, in practice every three years.
Where the audit ends in an unfavourable decision, the operator cannot file a new application for three full years. Filing too early does not just cost the time invested: it shuts the door for three years.
That is the whole purpose of the preliminary audit. The file is filed only once the criteria of Article 39 are actually met — not when one hopes they are.
Article 39 sets out five criteria. The first four govern AEOC; the fifth, specific to safety and security, governs AEOS. An AEOF application must meet them all. In our audits each one receives a score — green, amber or red — by criterion and by department.
No serious or repeated infringement over three financial years. Cross-checks with AGFisc (the Belgian tax administration), the ONSS (social security) and the criminal records of the applicant and its directors, together with a review of pending disputes.
Traceability, archiving, audit trail, the Union / non-Union distinction, IT interfaces and intra-group flows.
The ability to meet customs commitments. Calculation of the 22 ratios used by the AGD&A, review of accounts and guarantees, and consistency between customs value and transfer pricing.
Specific to AEOC. Customs competence of the managers and declarants, training completed, and HR procedures attached to the customs function.
Specific to AEOS. Premises and access, cybersecurity — including strong authentication on remote access — and the security of staff, carriers and business partners.
The criteria say what is assessed. These lines say where we go looking for the evidence. They are not worked through one after another: we cross them. A risk almost always arises where two of them meet — a physical flow the records do not reflect, a record the declaration contradicts.
Receipt, storage, production, dispatch. The Union / non-Union distinction, and mapping of intra-group and international flows.
Methodsite visits, interviews with logistics and production.
Stock records, internal traceability, interfaces between information systems, consistency across sites.
Methoda sample of movements, consistency tests between the physical flow, the records and the declarations.
Import and export declarations, authorisations, tariff classification and BTI, customs value, preferential and non-preferential origin, dual-use goods licences.
Methoda sample of declarations, measurement of the error rate, and a full review of authorisations.
Internal procedures, corrective actions, indicators, segregation of duties, internal audit, physical security and cybersecurity.
Methodreview of written procedures, cyber audit, tests of operational effectiveness.
Five stages, which can be taken one at a time, with a decision on whether to continue at the end of the first. You do not have to commit to the whole cycle to find out where you stand.
A full picture of your customs compliance, scored by criterion, guidance on which status to aim for, and a prioritised action plan by department. This is the stage that prevents filing too early.
Drafting and putting procedures in place, bringing you into compliance along the four lines of analysis, and following corrective actions through to closure with documentary evidence.
Building the file, completing the self-assessment questionnaire and the annexes, filing through the EU Trader Portal and following up on admissibility.
Support while the CRES examines the file: preparing your teams for the interviews, answering requests, and being present during site visits.
Putting into effect the control plan set by the administration, moving into routine, and preparing for the review. The status is not acquired once and for all.
Delivered alongside. The aim is not only to meet the criteria, but for your teams to be able to hold the status without us — tariff classification, origin and value under control day to day. See our training →
An AEO process runs for months and cuts across the whole business. Without governance it bogs down. We impose one from the outset.
Customs, supply chain, finance, IT, human resources, security, quality: each area names a lead contact, and ideally a deputy. Every action in the plan is attached to one of them by name.
Agenda circulated five working days ahead, minutes within 48 hours setting out actions, owners and deadlines. Any major blockage reaches management within 72 hours.
The same one for you and for us: score by criterion as a heat map, action plan by criticality, register of non-conformities, segregation-of-duties matrix, customs risk indicators.
Audit report, AEO plan, minutes, action sheets: each follows a template proven on assignment. You know in advance what you will receive.
The announced reform of the Union Customs Code and the work of the Wise Persons Group point towards a “Trust and Check Trader” status that will extend and amplify AEO, phased in gradually through to the 2030s.
Operators already approved will naturally be placed to move across to it. Starting the process today means preparing for the customs environment of the next decade rather than having it imposed on you.
Considering certification, or is your status due for review?
We always begin with the preliminary audit: within a few weeks it tells you whether the file is ready, what still needs building, and in what order.
Let's talk about your situation →