? ? ? ? On February 4, The Customs authorities of China and Russia signed the Arrangement on mutual recognition of Certified Operators between the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China and the Customs Service of the Russian Federation.

? ? ? ? An “Authorized Economic Operator” is an Authorized Economic Operator, often referred to as AEO. AEO system is a system advocated by the World Customs Organization, in which the customs certifies and recognizes enterprises with high law-abiding degree, credit status and safety level, and gives preferential clearance convenience to those enterprises that pass the certification. AEO enterprises from China and countries (regions) that recognize each other can directly enjoy the customs clearance facilitation measures implemented by local customs when exporting goods to each other, thus reducing the relevant trade costs.

? ? ? ? In 2021, bilateral trade exceeded 900 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 948.66 billion yuan, up 26.6 percent year on year. China has remained Russia’s largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years. After the realization of mutual recognition of AEO between Chinese and Russian customs, on the one hand, goods imported and exported directly by AEO enterprises of the two countries will enjoy priority in customs formalities and inspection, and be subject to convenient measures such as low rate of document review and inspection, which will significantly reduce the trade costs of enterprises such as warehousing and logistics. On the other hand, thanks to the strict requirements of AEO system on trade security, AEO mutual recognition between China and Russia will further promote the security and smooth supply chain of the two countries, and create a more secure and convenient environment for consolidating the basis of energy cooperation and continuously expanding the scale of trade and investment between the two countries.

? ? ? ? As Russia is an important member of THE Eurasian Economic Union, the mutual recognition of AEO between China and Russia will further play a radiating and driving effect and help improve the level of economic and trade cooperation between China and the Eurasian Economic Union.

? ? ? ? So far, China has signed AEO mutual recognition agreements with 22 economies, including Singapore, the European Union and South Africa, covering 48 countries (regions), ranking first in the world in terms of the number of countries (regions) that have mutual recognition. Among them, 32 Belt and Road countries, five members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and 13 Central and Eastern European countries are included.

Article source：The customs release