South African Revenue Service (Sars) has identified the security of the supply chain as the next crucial step on the customs journey, with the authorised economic operator (AEO) or ‘preferred trader’ playing a key role. Chief operations officer at Sars, Barry Hore, told delegates at the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) annual congress last week that trusted or preferred trader programmes had been proven globally to greatly reduce risk. “Following the visit by a European Union delegation on the third leg of an SA/EU AEO capacity building programme in September last year, the Sars preferred trader programme was recognised as amongst the best in the world, having met all the required international standards and can be regarded as AEO compliant,” he said. National head at Sars, Mohammed Ally, said milestones achieved to date included the publication of legislation to enable implementation of the programme and the founding of a Customs Accreditation Review Committee (CARC) whose members will approve the preferred trader status. “The first two batches of clients have, to date, been submitted to the CARC for approval and I’m happy to say that the submissions are increasing,” he said. The revenue authority will be ready to pilot its AEO programme in early 2014 to assist importers and exporters and it will eventually be expanded to include agents and operators, said Ally. INSERT & CAPTION Sars preferred trader programme has been recognised as amongst the best in the world. – Barry Hore
