Customs representatives from the countries that comprise the Pacific Alliance –Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru– signed an Action Plan that will enable progress toward a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) of their corresponding Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programs. The signatories of the document were: Chile’s National Customs Service, Colombia’s National Directorate of Taxes and Customs (DIAN), Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT), and Peru’s National Customs and Tax Administration Superintendency (SUNAT).
The Action Plan will be developed in four successive stages, namely, a study of the AEO programs, joint validation visits, development of procedures to implement the agreement, and an evaluation of the results.
Once these stages were fully defined and ratified by all parties, the four Pacific Alliance countries prepared a document in which the definitive MRA is expressed, whose preliminary deadline for execution and entry into force was set for December 2017.
The signing of this plan was carried out during the 3rd Global Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Conference, held in Mexico from 11 to 13 May 2016. During this event, the top Customs representatives worldwide -led by Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya of the World Customs Organization (WCO)- assessed the progress and identified the challenges faced by countries in developing their programs.
May 12, 2016