Your Customs Expert, CUSTOMSAUDIT

As of the point reached in AEO, which started to be implemented in 2013, there has been a significant cost and operational difference in the clearance of goods between companies with and without AEO certificate. In this system, where competition is increasing and global players come to the fore, medium-sized players increase their competitiveness by strengthening their corporate structures.

All the privileges and facilitations provided by the Ministry of Commerce in the past are given directly to companies with AEO, primarily and without any additional conditions. Therefore, companies with AEO start every customs process 1-0 ahead.

The most well-known advantage is that thanks to the green line, the customs administration has control over the documents and goods in customs procedures. With the declaration and attached documents submitted to the customs administration electronically, customs procedures are carried out without any intervention of the customs administration. In this way, the customs process, which may take days on the red or yellow line, is completed in 10-15 minutes, depending on the tax payment period of the company. Even if the declarations fall on the yellow or red line, the declarations of the companies with AEO are checked with priority and the transactions are completed quickly.

For goods arriving by sea or air with Pre-Arrival Customs Clearance, you can complete the customs clearance procedures while the goods are on the way, and when the goods reach the customs, you can handle the transactions without entering the temporary storage status and bring them to your facilities with the transportation vehicle you want. You can save a lot of time by completing all import procedures on the way without having to wait for the arrival of the goods to start customs clearance.

With the ease of on-site customs clearance in import or export, which can be obtained if additional conditions are met, you can perform customs procedures in your own factory, in your own warehouse, without going to the internal customs office, without going to the customs office. When customs clearance procedures are completed in your own facility, no time is wasted at customs, customs clearance costs are saved and you start the competition 2-0 ahead.

From the point of view of transporter and forwarder companies, the AEO certificate provides an important marketing power and competitive advantage as it means that the supply chain is secure, a registration and tracking system is established and safe goods movement is ensured by the Ministry of Commerce, and manufacturing-exporter-importer companies with AEO prefer to work with transporters with AEO. In addition, transporter companies with Authorized Consignee/Authorized Consignor authorizations, which are becoming increasingly important and widespread, have become sought after and preferred.

Each of the advantages shared below should be examined specifically for your company, and the question of whether additional conditions are met or how to benefit from which right should be evaluated by taking into account your supply chain process. As CustomsAudit, which has touched the processes of companies from every sector, we are sure to add value to you by providing you with the most accurate and fast information.

The Authorized Economic Operator Certificate is not a document that can only be obtained with an application. It is expected to provide and maintain some internationally developed standards. AEO Certificate;

• The systems in which commercial records are kept are traceable,

• Company officials do not have a criminal record,

• Taking security measures in a way that does not allow unauthorized entry etc. violations in its facilities,

• Since customs procedures are given to companies that carry out customs procedures with awareness and self-control within the framework of compliance with customs rules, these criteria are checked during the application process.

The criteria expected to be met with the questionnaire published by the Ministry of Commerce are asked to the candidate company. While answering these questions, there should be internal directives such as procedures, instructions, etc. established in the company. These questions, which cover almost every department, should include both written procedural documents and practice.

After the application to be made to the regional directorate, the answers given and the additional documents prepared are sent to the General Directorate and read by the Trade Expert assigned to the file. After the approval received from the expert, an on-site audit is carried out by the Trade Inspector to control the application.

Therefore, the AEO process is completed with many stages, one side of which is the state, and some requirements are met. The application is made to the regional directorate electronically via e-devlet (Turkish goverment portal) and all necessary documents are uploaded to the system and the process is followed via e-devlet. After the formal control, the Regional Directorate sends the file to the General Directorate and every answer given here and every procedure presented is examined one by one. After the positive completion of this stage, the Trade Inspector comes to the facility and checks the application and safety standards. It is important to get support from experts in this process, as the tide of the process is shortened from the Ministry and the process is subjected to physical control by the inspector at the end of the process.

We have never had any unsuccessful projects by approaching the subject with the logic of a project, dedicating only to your company every day, not seeing the process as obtaining a certificate, but adding value to you. Contact us to see our working method and difference.

Click here to access the current questionnaire guide published by the Ministry of Commerce.

In the last stage of the Authorized Economic Operator Certificate application, the Ministry of Commerce inspectors check the application of the information and documents submitted during the application process and the standards of the facilities in terms of safety and security at the facilities of the candidate company, and the AEO certificate is issued after the compliance is issued by the inspector.

Therefore, perhaps the most important stage of the AEO application process is the on-site inspection to be carried out by the inspector, and in case of a negative result, the AEO application may be rejected.

As CustomsAudit, with the experience of working in facilities belonging to different sectors for many years in the AEO application process, we come to your facilities at the first point of the project and rehearse the physical control that the inspector will do. In this study, which is called GAP Analysis, security issues such as security applications, personnel, visitors, vehicles, subcontractor entrances and exits, production and warehouse areas, external borders, etc. are checked unannounced. As a result of our examination, the improvement issues we have identified are reported and we help companies to take precautions in this process. While our application process continues, the necessary improvements are completed and when the inspector arrives, the facilities are physically ready and a negative situation is prevented.

The inspection to be carried out by the inspector is not only about the control of safety and security elements. It is also checked whether the issues specified in the written procedural documents in the application documents submitted to the Ministry are implemented by the relevant departments. The application of each of the approximately 500 questions in the questionnaire is examined and no 'zero' (not applicable) should be taken from any question.

We are with you even after the inspector audit is over with our team, which reviews all the processes of our company with the principle of 'do what you document; document what you do' during the project and does not see the process as just writing procedures. In the one-on-one studies carried out by the relevant departments, application examples are checked, suggestions are made if improvements are required in the systems, and preparation files for the inspector audit are created. If you want to get VIP service, not to disrupt our work, and speed up the process by working with experts, call us.

The customs procedures of the companies with AEO, whose customs procedures are processed on the green line and fulfill their obligations to the state on time and completely, are not controlled by the customs administration at the time the transaction is made. Declarations that do not pass the control of the customs administration are directly registered, taxes are paid, their transactions are completed and kept in the company archive for possible future inspection.

In accordance with the regulations made in the AEO questionnaire and the underlying legislation, the practice of inspecting these declarations, which were not controlled by the customs administration in 2018, by another eye in 12-month periods and reporting them started. With this regulation, it became necessary to audit 5% of the declarations of the companies with AEO traded on the green line according to some risk criteria determined by the Ministry, to examine the accounting records and the regimes used, and to report the results.

At the point reached with the changing legislation, companies with AEO every 12 months;

• To have at least 5% of the processed declarations audited according to the risk criteria determined by the Ministry,

• Examination of accounting records of foreign payments that may be related to customs value

• Inward Processing, Outward Processing, etc. by checking whether the regimes are applied correctly,

• Controlling sensitive issues such as Compensatory Tax, Secondary Processed Product, Calculation of Efficiency Rates,

• The entire customs clearance process should be audited with many open-ended questions such as information about the execution of the company's customs procedures and its basic policy, and this should be completed by linking it to the Annual Activity Report.

Therefore, the Ministry has privatized the audits of the companies with AEO, enabled them to have their own audits done with the service to be received from the auditor companies, and the Ministry personnel were directed to riskier companies. The Annual Activity Report in question is important for the continuity of the AEO certificate of the company and for the elimination of risks that may occur in the future.

In the audits, the transactions of the company that are not audited by the state are audited by another eye other than the company, and if there is a risk, it is possible to benefit from the opportunity of self-declaration by intervening before it grows, which provides great importance to the company in terms of controlling the risk.

As CustomsAudit, which has been successfully carrying out the preparation processes for the Post-Control audit carried out by Trade Inspectors since 2010 with the companies it serves, and has been providing audit consultancy services only on customs since the day it was founded, we are assertive in the management of the Annual Activity Report process. We do not look at this process only as checking the boxes on the declaration, but also manage the risk of your company with our implementation of regimes, connection of customs and accounting transactions, detection of risky points, and process analysis studies by considering the customs process as a whole. By dividing the 12-month period into periods, we carry out inspections with 2-3 month processes, and if there is a risky point, we ensure that it is prevented and minimizes the risk. Since the day we were founded, we are the FIRST and ONLY company that has been doing this job, we are the right address.

Click here for the letter stating that the deficiencies determined as a result of Annual Activity Report will be declared automatically.

It is expected that companies with AEO have self-control in carrying out customs and foreign trade transactions, that awareness and awareness are established in the company personnel to ensure the accuracy of the declarations given, and that the legislation is actively followed. Company personnel are required to know the basic and current concepts of customs and foreign trade legislation. On the other hand, since AEO is not only about the reliability of the declaration given, but also about goods control at customs, it is expected to receive special trainings in order to ensure that the vehicles and goods subject to shipment are safe, to ensure safe loading and unloading and seal application, and to inform the personnel responsible for these operations.

In this respect, it is an obligation in terms of AEO legislation for both companies in the AEO process and companies that have received AEO certificates to receive the trainings shared below at certain periods and to keep records of this;

• Customs and Foreign Trade Basic Concepts

• With the participation of Import-Export-Customs operation teams and Accounting-Finance units,

• The training, in which basic concepts such as customs, value, origin, tariff, etc. are conveyed, must be taken regularly every YEAR.

• Risks Related to the Movement of Goods in the International Supply Chain

• Stash and 7-point control of the vehicle,

• NBC on ensuring the security of shipments such as substances, flammable explosives

• Especially the personnel working in security and warehouse are expected to receive this training at least once every 3 YEARS.

• Crisis Management

• Smuggling, organized crime, terrorism, etc. in facilities or operation processes,

• It is the training that all relevant personnel should receive.

In these trainings, information is given about the legislation and technical information regarding the transactions to be carried out by the company with the receipt of the AEO certificate, application examples, and the most common situations. The provision of these trainings is given as a package within our AEO consultancy process, and you do not receive consultancy from us and trainings from anyone else. Since we approach the process as a whole, all trainings are given by our founder Dr. Mehmet Yıldırım, who served as a former chief customs inspector, head of smuggling department, customs attaché. In the context of increasing the level of consciousness and awareness of all personnel involved in the process on customs and foreign trade issues;

• As CustomsAcademy, with the knowledge gained from nearly ten years of audit and consultancy experience in the sector,

• In addition to its academic notion, with its instructor staff trained in the public and private sectors,

• With ongoing training programs specific to companies,

• We are at your side with our training content specific to your company.

We can carry out our trainings, for which we issue special certificates for the participants, either through your facilities or through any online platform due to the pandemic process.

After the September 11 attacks in 2001, ensuring the security of the supply chain on a global scale has become important, and many organizations and states, especially the World Trade Organization and the World Customs Organization, have started to work to make the supply chain risk-free. As a result, the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO), which is currently implemented in 97 countries, has entered the customs literature and has encouraged companies to this program to ensure the security of the supply chain of each member country and pushed them to make the necessary legislative arrangements. In Türkiye, it took its place in our customs legislation with an important regulation as the Authorized Economic Operator program in 2013.

The logic of the program is in the same direction in each country. It is to ensure the safety of the operation, loading and goods on the road in the country of origin and to keep the possible dangers that may enter the country under control with the logic of risk control. It is aimed to control the shipment of goods by securing all links of the supply chain such as the supplier who produces the goods, the warehouse that preserves the goods, and the transporter who carries out the international transportation and by placing common control points. In addition, it increases the effect of control by allocating the operational power to more marginal risky transactions rather than the transactions of companies registered in the customs system as reliable companies.

In this context, it is aimed that countries will benefit from facilitations in both party countries by registering the companies included in the program in each other's systems by making mutual recognition agreements with each other. In the studies carried out by the World Customs Organization, it is aimed to disseminate these mutual recognition agreements. Currently, Türkiye only has such an agreement with South Korea.

The application of the AEO certificate, which is applied globally and has international validity, is called AEO in many countries, and it is named differently in countries such as Canada and the USA.

In each country, its scope and the types of companies that can be involved vary and their expectations may diversify. However, as explained above, it is a program implemented with the same philosophy.

In this way, with the receipt of this status certificate, which is applied as AEO in Türkiye, international privilege is provided and an international prestige is obtained. With the use of the AEO logo in communication with foreign customers, on invoices, etc., the marketing power increases and it becomes more preferred than its competitors as a reliable company. AEO has an international importance.

Click here to access the 2020 AEO Report published by the World Customs Organization.

Click here for the arrangement regarding the logo that can be used by companies with AEO.

According to the Turkish Customs Legislation, the companies that can receive AEO are manufacturers, importers, exporters and logistics companies, and some additional application conditions to be applied to these companies temporarily have been determined.

In general, the companies in each group;

• Facilities have safety and security standards,

• The registration system should be traceable,

• To have financial competence,

• It is expected to have ISO 9001 and 27001 certificates.

In addition, the conditions required to apply are shared below.

These issues are necessary to apply for standard AEO. Beyond this, there are additional conditions for the additional privileges given within the scope of the AEO program. The additional right to be received for each company should be evaluated and it should be checked before the application whether the requirements are met. Otherwise, if there is a deficiency in the application conditions, the application is rejected at the Regional Directorate stage.

Call us to get information about your company's application status.

On the other hand, the AEO certificate is issued indefinitely. Companies that are entitled to receive this certificate can use the certificate indefinitely as long as there is no suspension, cancellation or withdrawal. The document is valid as of the date it is issued, and from this date, it is necessary to update it every 5 YEARS and renew the documents submitted during the application.

As CustomsAudit, we do not have any projects that have been rejected or resulted in negative results. If you want to be added to the list of privileged companies, let's evaluate your application status together and draw the direction of our project.