The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has recently revised the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme to push up for speedy clearance of cargo from ports, and reduce time and cost in cross-border trade. Customs is moving away from a regime of control to facilitation and partnership and the revised AEO was launched with this in mind, according to BK Bansal, Member (Customs), CBEC.
AEO will enable direct port delivery of imports to ensure just-in-time inventory management by manufacturers and clearance from wharf to warehouse. It is a programme of trust and confidence between the Customs and trade. The department will grade assessees based on compliance track record. Accordingly, assessees will be facilitated much better, can have reduced bank guarantee and can get deferred payment of Customs duty. There will be international recognition also with China, Korea, Hong Kong and the US looking forward to have mutual recognition agreements with India. The department has been trying to make things simpler and easy by rationalising processes, procedures and simplifying norms to help industry, promote trade and capture more and more share in international trade.