The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has recently revised the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme to make it more lucrative for trade in speedy clearance of cargo from ports, and reduce time and cost in cross border trade, said BK Bansal, Member (Customs), CBEC.

Customs is moving away from a regime of control to facilitation and partnership. The revised AEO was launched with this in mind, he said.

Inventory system 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.

“Why should the department treat everybody the same? Some are better compliant, some are not. Why should both be treated on par? A distinction should be made on facilitating more for trusted clients,” he said.

Grading the assessees 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, he said.

Food Security and Textile Ministry are willing to come on board once assessees become AEOs with Customs.

There will be international recognition also with China, Korea, Hong Kong and the US looking forward to have mutual recognition agreements with India, he said.

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.

comment COMMENT NOW