By EPN Reporter
MBABANE-Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) has accredited three of the country’s esteemed companies under the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) Programme.
The accredited companies include Usuthu Forest Products, Woolies Eswatini, and Montigny Investments.
The accreditation of the companies happened yesterday during the International Customs Day celebrations. According to the ERS website, the AEO Programme is designed to facilitate seamless international trade, and promises a host of benefits for accredited entities, showcasing the ERS’s commitment to fostering a business-friendly environment.
According to ERS Commissioner General Brightwell Nkambule, the AEO Programme promotes mutually beneficial relationships between Customs and business. In simple terms, this initiative awards traders benefits equivalent to “a Customs diplomatic passport” at ports of entry.
“We are working on expanding the diplomatic status beyond customs to cover some benefits within Domestic Tax. This could include accelerating the processing of refunds for AEO’s,” Nkambule said.
The AEO Programme is a voluntary compliance management programme, through which a Customs Administration assesses, awards, facilitates the benefits and monitors compliance to the standards on a continuous basis of the operators within the program.
The AEO was previously referred to as the Preferred Trader Programme (PTP) and the name has been changed in order to present the programme using its internationally recognised term. The AEO programme is based on standardised criteria and requirements which operators are expected to meet in order for them to be recognised as either compliant on customs and tax requirements or on safety and security requirements.
For ERS to achieve better results in the drive for improving voluntary compliance, it is important to build close relationships and form partnerships with businesses. It is for this reason that the organization is undertaking initiatives that will contribute to an environment that will make business more competitive, which ultimately grows the country’s economy. Such initiatives aim at reducing the costs that a business will incur in its efforts to comply with the laws and regulations that are enforced.
AEO aims to:
- Ensure that traders understand their compliance requirements and assist them in developing their own internal controls and systems to ensure that they comply without being supervised
- effectively promotes trade compliance and increases supply chain – safety and security in both the import and export environment
- Develop a sustainable relationship between the Eswatini Revenue Service and its traders.
