Brainboxes achieves AEO accreditation

December 6, 2011 / News

Brainboxes quality and service you know you can trust

Brainboxes
is proud to announce that on the 23rd November 2011 we were awarded full
‘Authorised Economic Operator’ status.

Following
a rigorous inspection process by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, it was
confirmed that we have met all the criteria necessary for this internationally
recognised accreditation.

What
does this mean?

An
Authorised Economic Operator, AEO, is a status given to a business that is
involved in the international supply chain that has proved it is compliant and
trustworthy.

The
benefit to our customers

As
an AEO we and our
export customers will benefit from simplifications provided for under the
customs rules and from facilitations relating to
security and safety. This will speed our exports across the globe and assist
our international partners and customers to do business with us. For all our
customers this supports our claim that we are well placed to deliver on time
and in full wherever they are in the world and the independent audits
strengthen our claim.

How
did we achieve this?

In
order to gain this award it requires months of repeated inspections and
production of satisfactory documentation from every part of the company.

The
assessment for AEO required us to provide detailed financial reports that were
not only complete but attested to the economic strength and viability of the
company. We had to demonstrate our compliance with ISO9001 and ISO14000
standards, that our risk assessment procedures, safety and security for our
goods, access to our premises and security, our networks and IT systems all met
the high standard required. Our customs procedures, intellectual property, binding
tariff codes and our goods management were all assessed and proved to be
compliant.

You’ve
always known you can trust the Brainboxes brand for quality, service and reliability,
now we have proven you can count on our stability and delivery too.

AEO
is recognised across the EU, Japan, Switzerland, Norway and mutual recognition
deals should be in place for the USA’s C-TPAT and for China’s scheme in 2012.

What the United Kingdom Government says;

“The introduction of
AEO status is the EU response to the need to secure international supply chains
and the introduction of Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) in
the USA. AEO is based on, and is compatible with, the World Customs
Organisation’s SAFE Framework of Standards which is being implemented by
Customs authorities across the globe.

The criteria for a
Customs simplification AEO also provide a common and harmonised set of criteria
for granting customs simplifications across the EU.”

Our AEO number: GB AEOF 00031/11