General

Not long ago, the General Administration of Customs and the Macao Customs signed the Arrangement on Mutual Recognition between the Credit Management System of Mainland Customs Enterprises and the Plan of Macao Customs to Recognize Economic Operators. The Mainland Customs has become the first AEO mutual recognition partner of Macao Customs, effectively improving the security and facilitation level of bilateral international trade. As of February 2023, China has signed AEO mutual recognition agreements with 24 economies, including Singapore, the European Union and South Africa. The number of countries (regions) with mutual recognition ranks the first in the world, enhancing the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in the international trade market.

It is understood that the "certified operator" (AEO) is a system advocated by the World Customs Organization, through which enterprises with high credit status, law-abiding degree and level are certified by the customs, and enterprises that have passed the certification are given preferential customs clearance facilities. In recent years, China Customs has fully promoted the process of AEO mutual recognition and cooperation. At the interpretation meeting of AEO mutual recognition system held a few days ago, Zheng Yinying, partner of Jindu Law Firm, said that for enterprises, the international mutual recognition of AEO will help to further reduce their customs clearance time and cost, improve the efficiency of the entire supply chain, and also contribute to the compliance development of enterprises.

Zheng Yinying, for example, said that a company was planning to apply for IPO. Before applying for IPO, the company's main responsible person had deliberately understated the price of imported goods. After being found by the customs inspection, the company was handed over to the Anti-Smuggling Bureau for handling. The final judgment was that it constituted a smuggling crime, and the company was fined, and the relevant responsible person was sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment. In the process of preparing for IPO, the criminal case may cause adverse effects. With the assistance of professionals, the company carried out compliance internal audit and targeted rectification, established the international trade import and export compliance system, and applied to the customs for AEO certification, and finally obtained the advanced certification enterprise, laying a solid foundation for the international trade enterprises to apply for IPO. It can be seen that AEO certification plays a key role in improving the compliance level of enterprises.

In addition, obtaining AEO certification can also increase the compliance trust of relevant departments and improve the efficiency of review. Zheng Yinying said that a semiconductor company is engaged in research and development, packaging, testing and production of semiconductor products, and sells its products and provides after-sales services in domestic and international trade markets. The company imports 95% of its materials from South Korea every year, while 40% of its products are exported to Hong Kong and 30% to Singapore.

After the company became an AEO certified enterprise, the export inspection rate was reduced to less than 1%, and the inspection rate of Singapore Customs was reduced by about half. The delivery time of export products in Hong Kong has been reduced by 1.5 hours, and the local customs clearance time in Singapore has been reduced from 10 hours to 4 hours. The time of importing materials and parts from South Korea has also been shortened, and the company's cycle time from receiving orders to delivering products to customers has been shortened by 1/3. Now the company can promise 48 hours door-to-door for customers in the Asia-Pacific region, and the shorter delivery time also attracts more orders for the company.