Headquarters of the Rwanda Revenue Authority

Thirteen companies, three of them Rwandan, last week signed a Memorandum of understanding with Rwanda Revenue Authority to be accorded preferential treatment when clearing their goods at customs. The Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) is a regional trade facilitation program recommended by the world customs organization to ease trade and customs clearance for tax compliant and prominent importers and exporters.

Delay in clearing goods at customs is one of the major impediments to smooth trading within the East African Community (EAC). It also contributes to making the EAC region one of the most expensive places to do business despite being the second most growing economy in the world. The AEO creates some kind of obstacle-free zone where traders in the import or export business, known to be complaint with customs requirements, are accorded special treatment to ease the process of clearing their goods while in transit.

The pilot project will see how the system works in reality and the beneficiaries have all been informed of their rights and which ports or borders to claim them from. Rwanda customs officials issue special identifiers to the beneficiaries to help them identify the benefiting traders once their goods appear at any of the designated custom points. These identifiers will be recognizable everywhere in the five partner states of the EAC where the beneficiaries will pass and claim their privileges as AEO.

The growth of global trade and increasing security threats to the international movement of goods have forced customs administrations to shift their focus more and more to securing the international trade flow and away from the traditional task of collecting customs duties.

Recognizing these developments, the World Customs Organization (WCO) drafted the WCO Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate global trade (SAFE). In the framework, several standards are included that can assist customs administrations in meeting these new challenges and developing an Authorized Economic Operator programme is a core part of SAFE. Source: AllAfrica.com