Replacement of the AEO by the "Trust and Check Trader": what would be the practical changes for AEOs and non-AEOs under the EU Commission’s UCC Reform Proposal?

The replacement of the AEO with a new designation of "Trust and Check Trader", as proposed under the EU customs reform, is not just a change of name. The European Commission is introducing with this concept both additional requirements and new restrictions in comparison to the current AEO facilitations, as well as removing almost all existing facilitations for non-AEOs. Since under the EU Customs Reform proposal all responsibility for fiscal and nonfiscal compliance will lie with importers and exporters, AEOs who currently benefit from customs simplifications but are not importers or exporters (indirect customs representatives will be treated as such), but rather carriers, warehouse keepers or direct customs representatives, will lose their privileged status as trustworthy economic operator. In this article, the author explains the proposed rules for T&C and the negative consequences for economic operators who will lose this status, as well as the loss of facilitations currently available for economic operators without AEO status.