The General Administration of Customs ("GAC") has recently issued the Announcement on the Mutual Recognition of "Authorized Economic Operators (AEO)" between Chinese and Belarusian Customs (the "Announcement").
The Announcement expressly states that the customs of China and Belarus entered into an official Arrangement of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Belarus on the Mutual Recognition of the Enterprise Credit Management System of the Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) System of the Republic of Belarus, deciding to officially put into effect this mutual recognition arrangement as of July 24, 2019. The Announcement states that the customs of Belarus will recognize the senior authorized enterprises accredited by the customs of China as the mutually recognized AEOs, while the customs of China will recognize the "Class III AEOs" accredited by the customs of Belarus as the mutually recognized AEOs. The customs offices of both sides will take measures, such as "cutting some links of document verification" and "applying a lower examination rate", to provide each other's AEOs with convenience in respect of customs clearance, during the customs clearance for imports or exports. Also, the Announcement requires that the senior authorized enterprises accredited by the customs of China, which engage in import and export trade with Belarus, shall inform the Belarusian importers or exporters of their AEO codes.