On 25-28 March 2019, a workshop organised by the Asian Development Bank (“ADB”) with the support of the Royal Customs and Excise Department (“RCED”) of Brunei Darussalam, BIMP-EAGA Facilitation Centre (“BIMP-EAGA FC”), and the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (“RMCD”) on Authorised Economic Operators (“AEO”) was held in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. The purpose of the workshop was to give awareness to the Customs Officers and the business community from the member countries on the concept of AEO in order to promote cross-border trade among the BIMP-EAGA countries.

Upon invitation from RCED, MPC sent two representatives, YM Mr Huang Geng and YM Tarmizi Yakub, to accompany RCED and to participate in the workshop. During the 4-day workshop, subject experts explained the AEO scheme, covering the benefits, criteria, and real world examples of the programmes. This allowed the attendees to understand the rationale behind the implementation of AEO schemes around the world.

The Customs representative from Brunei and Malaysia also spoke about the AEO schemes of each country. The Philippines and Indonesia didn’t not present during the workshop as both countries decided not to send representatives. During their presentations, Customs Officers from Brunei and Malaysia gave an insight into the criteria that must be satisfied by entities in order to obtain AEO status, and also the benefits provided by each country’s Customs Departments to AEO certified entities. The differences between Brunei and Malaysia’s AEO schemes were also discussed to identify potential gaps that could be addressed to enhance the attractiveness of the programmes.

On the final day of the workshop, the participants were taken to Top Glove Corporation Bhd’s (“Top Glove”) facility to witness the operations of a AEO certified manufacturer. During the visit, representatives from Top Glove explained the changes introduced by the company in order to comply with the requirements of the scheme. Top Glove also shared the benefits that they have been able to take advantage of as a result of becoming AEO certified. The delegation was then taken on a tour of one of Top Glove’s factories and their headquarters, after which, the site visit was concluded.