U.S. and EU Implement Mutual-Recognition Decision

February 11, 2013

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently announced that the May 2012 mutual recognition decision between CBP’s Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) program and the European Union’s Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program was fully implemented January 31^st, 2013. In July 2012, AEO members gained benefits from the agreement such as lower risk scores and less exams when shipping into the United States. C-TPAT members will now have access to reciprocal benefits when exporting to EU member states. According to CBP, the mutual recognition agreement aims to link international industry partnership programs in order to create a unified, sustainable security posture that helps to secure and facilitate global cargo trade.

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