On the afternoon of March 14, eight enterprises in Changzhou were awarded the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) certificates, with which they will be able to enjoy the new preferential policies such as applying for an exemption from customs duties and reducing the frequency of inspections. Up to now, there is a total of 23 AEO enterprises in Changzhou. Vice Mayor Liang Yibo attended the awarding ceremony.

According to the World Customs Organization (WCO), an authorized economic operator (AEO) is "a party involved in the international movement of goods in whatever function that has been approved by or on behalf of a national Customs administration as complying with WCO or equivalent supply chain security standards. Authorized Economic Operators include inter alia manufacturers, importers, exporters, brokers, carriers, consolidators, intermediaries, ports, airports, terminal operators, integrated operators, warehouses and distributors."

The importance of coordinated, similar, programmes lies in the fact that the ultimate goal is to get all national programmes mutually recognized, meaning that AEO accreditations have the same value everywhere. As a result, secure supply chains can be established, as all parts of the chain from origin to destination are deemed to be safe, albeit under different AEO programmes. Recently, The EU and China have decided to facilitate trade between their economic operators by mutually recognising their respective programmes for AEO.

According to Changzhou Customs, the current number of AEO companies only accounts for 1.6% of the total number of Changzhou’s import and export enterprises, but the AEO companies� total value of imports and exports accounted for 13.07% of the city’s total imports and exports in 2018.