Improvement of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) concept in the Eurasian Economic Union were discussed on September 10 at a meeting of the relevant Working Group under the Advisory Committee on Customs Regulation headed by Kuat Rakhimov, Director of the Eurasian Economic Commission's Department of Customs Legislation and Law Enforcement Practice.

The meeting considered an initiative put forward by the Russian Federation to simplify the application of preliminary customs declarations for this category of low-risk applicants. It is proposed to simplify a number of customs operations and eliminate unnecessary customs notifications when using this declaration aspect. This will help accelerate customs control procedures at border crossing points and reduce business costs.

The proposal of the Republic of Kazakhstan to apply the AEO status by residents within a special economic zone was further considered. The idea is that having two statuses would provide advantages and include residents in the AEO program.

Further steps were also discussed to implement the initiative put forward by the Republic of Armenia, which may enable operators to defer or pay import customs duties by installments without providing a collateral. This concerns certain categories of goods used for industrial processing and agricultural activities.