Africa-Press – Namibia. ACCREDITED traders in Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa will benefit from lower trade costs and quicker turn-around times for imports and exports due to a Mutual Recognition Arrangement signed today by the five member states of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
The Heads of Revenue Administrations in Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa have agreed to recognize importers and exporters who have been granted the status of an Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) in each other’s countries. Traders who are AEOs across the SACU region will enjoy streamlined controls and reduced administrative costs for customs clearance.
Kungo Mabogo, SACU Secretariat Communications Manager, explained that the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) program is a flagship Customs-Business partnership.
“It benefits both parties because it offers an opportunity for Customs authorities to share compliance and security responsibilities with the private sector and, at the same time, rewards them with several trade facilitation benefits. Partnership programs of this nature with the trade will allow revenue administrations to achieve more with less effort, with the goal of ensuring sustainable and long-term voluntary compliance through incentives. These Authorised Economic Operators must maintain high-quality internal operational processes and have an appropriate record of compliance. In return, they will receive certain benefits to support their businesses,” said Mabogo.
The AEO program supports international compliance models that aim to increase voluntary compliance. This requires Customs to place more reliance on traders who choose to be compliant.
The Heads of the SACU Revenue Administrations committed themselves “to do the best we can to facilitate cross-regional trade to ensure the success of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, exploring all its opportunities and being alert to respond to all of its risks.
“It is in our hands as leaders of SACU Revenue Administrations to play a key role in significantly reducing the stubborn residue of poverty, inequality, and unemployment among our people in our region and beyond,” they said.
The SACU leaders emphasized their belief in partnerships to improve the entire trade ecosystem in support of voluntary compliance. “As SACU, we have set out an ambitious program to improve trade facilitation,” they added.
Edward Kieswetter, the SARS Commissioner, said that “the AEO program supports SARS’ strategic intent to work towards a system of voluntary compliance. This requires SARS to place more reliance on taxpayers and traders who choose to be compliant. The AEO Program does just this! The quid pro quo is a level of accreditation, integrity, and trust mutually built between the parties with tangible benefits in the form of expedited processing and other measures.”
Kieswetter added that today’s signing of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement will further boost trade opportunities and contribute to the smooth flow of goods between SACU countries. The MRA will also strengthen end-to-end supply chain security for trade in goods by promoting multi-layered risk management and providing facilitation benefits to accredited traders.
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