Authorized Economic Operator Programs
In the Islamic Countries:
Enhancing Customs-Traders Partnership
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5. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 General Success Factors
This section synthesizes the information gathered from best international practices, survey
results of OIC AEO programs and experiences of OIC Member States visited for the case studies.
DESIGN STAGE
Success Factor 1- Active participation of at least one best-practice-developed country in
the design process of AEO program.
It is common practice to learn from the experiences of the existing AEO programs in the design
process. This includes (i) desk study of the WCO SAFE Framework as well as the international
best practice examples, (ii) training of the Customs personnel by WCO or officials from
countries that are experienced in AEO program design and implementation, and (iii) field
visits. These are necessary but not sufficient particularly for countries with underdeveloped
institutions. Closer guidance of officials from a best-practice country will increase the success
of the AEO program in terms of implementation and prospective MRAs with best-practice
countries.
Jordan can be considered as a best-practice country in OIC region in this respect. The Golden
List program was developed together with USAID from the scratch, which provided a strong
start that resulted in an MRA with the USA.
Success Factor 2- Regional AEO design and implementation to align the programs from
their inauguration
The share of many OIC member countries in the world trade is miniscule and their
international trade involves only a few significant trade partners. Therefore, it might be hard
to justify the costs attached to an AEO program design. These costs vary from capacity building
to technology adoption, from training existing personnel to hiring new staff. Canada, for
example, revised and improved its program in 2008 which costed the country 11.6 million CAD
(10.8 million USD)10. Moreover, a regional AEO program increases the likelihood of MRAs for
the involved countries as the total trade volume becomes significant.
The main benefit of getting involved in a regional AEO is the minimization of the
inconsistencies among programs in terms of application, verification and evaluation processes
along with operating under the same legal framework.
The best international practice in this regard can be considered as the EU, however, one should
note that the EU is an economic and political union and the common AEO program across 28
countries is a direct result of status quo.
The best practice among the OIC countries in terms of regional AEO design is the EAC (Uganda
is a member) initiative.
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