To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average length of time taken to process an application for Authorised Economic Operator status was in each year of the last five years; and whether there are target times for the processing of such applications.
Answered on
3 April 2017
On 28 March 2017 the UK had 667 businesses holding Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) status.
During the last five complete calendar years the number of applications received by HM Revenue and Customs and the average time taken to issue a decision are as follows:
2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |
Applications received | 55 | 45 | 58 | 91 | 300 |
Average time taken to issue a decision (days) | 123 | 96 | 124 | 120 | 128 |
As of 28 March 2017, there had been 32 UK AEO applications received for 2017. There has been a significant increase in applications since the introduction of the Union Customs Code from 1 May 2016.
The Union Customs Code provides a period of 120 days for an AEO decision to be issued. A further 60 day extension is allowed where the customs authority considers it necessary, providing a total of 180 days if required.