On February 10, 2016, government officials from the customs organizations of the member countries of the Andean Community (CAN) met in Lima and took part in a working meeting (link in Spanish) that concluded with the signing of the “Action Plan for the Mutual Recognition of Authorized Economic Operators (AEOs).”
At the meeting, the National Customs Service of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (ANB), the Department of National Taxes and the Customs Service (DIAN) of Colombia, the National Customs Service of the Republic of Ecuador (SENAE), and the National Superintendent’s Office of Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT) of Peru agreed to move toward a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA [link in Spanish]), just as CAN had planned in 2001 through Decision 770 (link in Spanish) concerning trade facilitation in customs matters. The AEO (link in Spanish) is a mechanism which allows customs services to improve risk management and assist beneficiary companies during customs checks, which leads to substantial reductions in the costs and times of trade-related transactions. Each company that is authorized as an AEO stands to gain operational benefits when negotiating with other companies from CAN member countries.
