Recently, the General Administration of Customs ("GAC") has issued the Announcement on Implementing the Mutual Recognition of Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) between the Customs of China and New Zealand (the "Announcement").
According to the Announcement, customs of China and New Zealand have entered into the Arrangement of the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the New Zealand Customs Service on the Mutual Recognition of the Enterprise Credit Management System of Customs of the People's Republic of China and the Secure Exports Scheme of the New Zealand Customs, and decided to officially implement such mutual recognition arrangement as of July 1, 2017. The Announcement makes it clear that New Zealand customs will recognize the senior authorized enterprises accredited by Chinese customs as Chinese AEOs, while China customs recognizes members under the Secure Exports Scheme of the New Zealand Customs as New Zealand AEOs. Moreover, the Announcement sets forth a series of measures to facilitate the customs clearance, such as "cutting some links of document verification and check", "prioritizing the inspection of goods that need to be checked", "designating customs liaison in charge of addressing issues encountered by AEOs in the middle of customs clearance through communication", and "providing rapid customs clearance access when the suspended international trade is restored".