December 6, 2011 / News
Brainboxes quality and service you know you can trust
Brainboxes is proud to announce that on the 23rd November 2011 we were awarded full ‘Authorised Economic Operator’ status.
Following a rigorous inspection process by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, it was confirmed that we have met all the criteria necessary for this internationally recognised accreditation.
What does this mean?
An Authorised Economic Operator, AEO, is a status given to a business that is involved in the international supply chain that has proved it is compliant and trustworthy.
The benefit to our customers
As an AEO we and our export customers will benefit from simplifications provided for under the customs rules and from facilitations relating to security and safety. This will speed our exports across the globe and assist our international partners and customers to do business with us. For all our customers this supports our claim that we are well placed to deliver on time and in full wherever they are in the world and the independent audits strengthen our claim.
How did we achieve this?
In order to gain this award it requires months of repeated inspections and production of satisfactory documentation from every part of the company.
The assessment for AEO required us to provide detailed financial reports that were not only complete but attested to the economic strength and viability of the company. We had to demonstrate our compliance with ISO9001 and ISO14000 standards, that our risk assessment procedures, safety and security for our goods, access to our premises and security, our networks and IT systems all met the high standard required. Our customs procedures, intellectual property, binding tariff codes and our goods management were all assessed and proved to be compliant.
You’ve always known you can trust the Brainboxes brand for quality, service and reliability, now we have proven you can count on our stability and delivery too.
AEO is recognised across the EU, Japan, Switzerland, Norway and mutual recognition deals should be in place for the USA’s C-TPAT and for China’s scheme in 2012.
What the United Kingdom Government says;
“The introduction of AEO status is the EU response to the need to secure international supply chains and the introduction of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) in the USA. AEO is based on, and is compatible with, the World Customs Organisation’s SAFE Framework of Standards which is being implemented by Customs authorities across the globe.
The criteria for a Customs simplification AEO also provide a common and harmonised set of criteria for granting customs simplifications across the EU.”
Our AEO number: GB AEOF 00031/11
