The WCO – EAC CREATe Project, funded by Sweden, supports the EAC region in implementing a regional Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) programme based on international best practices. Therefore, in August, the project held a 5- day workshop at the EAC Secretariat headquarters in Arusha on IT requirements to administer the regional AEO programme. During the meeting, regional ICT and AEO experts from each member administration agreed on the format of the regional AEO identifier on the Customs declaration and developed a road map for its introduction on their respective IT systems. The members agreed that by March 2017, the regional AEO identifier should be introduced in all Members’ Customs IT systems.

Furthermore, it was decided that the EAC member administrations would gradually adopt the Globally Networked Customs (GNC) approach, including the adoption of the Unique Consignment Reference number (UCR) as recommended by the WCO. On the topic of UCR, the EAC Members benefited from the experience and expertise of a lead IT expert from Swaziland who was critical in developing the region’s own UCR system as part of the SACU regional Preferred Trader Programme under the WCO-SACU Connect Project, also funded by Sweden.

While opening the workshop, the EAC Director Customs, Mr. Kenneth Bagamuhunda, underscored the importance of the regional program and informed participants that even though the project still has two years to its end, the regional AEO program is already part of the EAC 5 year strategic agenda "We are grateful to the WCO and Sweden who have given us a lot of support for this project, but we now need to look at sustainability beyond the project".

For further information, please contact the WCO – Sub Saharan Africa Programme Director, Mr. Richard Chopra (richard.Chopra@wcoomd.org).