When it comes to exporting food, you have to consider more than just what you are sending. You also need to look at everything else that goes along with it – the paperwork, the controls, and the relationship of trust between the customs agencies. When dealing with products that will spoil if they do not arrive quickly (fresh cheeses, cured meats, etc.), even one small issue with the paperwork can cause delays at the borders. These delays can lead to lost time on store shelves, reduced profit margins, and a damage to your company’s reputation.
This is why the status of “Authorised Economic Operator” (AEO) is an important tool for Italian exporters of food products. The AEO was created through the Union Customs Code (UCC Regulation EU 952/2013) and can be obtained from the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli in Italy. Obtaining the AEO status demonstrates that the company complies with customs and tax regulations, has adequate controls in place to manage their business processes and flow of goods, and demonstrates financial stability. Depending upon which type of AEO you apply for – AEOC for customs simplifications; AEOS for security and safety – the AEO will also demonstrate that your organization possesses recognized expertise and strong security measures.
The direct benefits include fewer physical and/or written examinations of products; priority consideration during inspections; the opportunity to select where examinations will occur; and increased ease in applying for customs simplifications. Also, the AEO status is recognized in countries outside of Europe through the Mutual Recognition Agreements that have been established between the European Union and many of its major trade partners. While the AEO program does not replace the health/sanitary/veterinary regulations of each importing country, the level of documentation required by the AEO program facilitates compliance with those regulations.
Alifood used its preparation for AEO as a chance to assess each part of its operation. It reviewed the process used to select qualified producers, documented all of its shipments, controlled who handled the products, and traced a product’s journey from a dairy in Italy to a distribution center in another country. It would be impossible to coordinate more than 120 producers located in almost 20 different countries into consolidated, multi-source shipments without having some type of system in place. AEO provided Alifood with such a system.
This is the aspect which interests us most. Our customers, when selecting Alifood as their partner, rely on more than simply our words; they rely on a process which an independent public body has reviewed, accepted, and continues to assess. The AEO designation enables us to make our logistics operations more agile and productive, however, the primary benefit of the AEO status is to demonstrate the reliability and credibility of the methods we employ. We are never improvising when shipping a container; rather, we are always precise — and the AEO designation demonstrates the precision of the entire process with each container shipped.