Eligibility conditions and Criteria for granting the AEO Certificate: The following eligibility criteria is relevant for the grant of AEO status: - CBEC's Customs Manual 2023 - Customs

6. Eligibility conditions and Criteria for granting the AEO Certificate: The following eligibility criteria is relevant for the grant of AEO status: 6.1 Who can apply for AEO Certificate is prescribed in Circular No. 33/2016-Customs dated 22-7-2016 as amended. The important eligibility criteria are briefed herein as follows: (i) Anyone involved in the international supply chain that undertakes Customs related activity in India can apply for AEO status. These may include exporters, importers, logistic providers (e.g. carriers, airlines, freight forwarders, etc.), Custodians or Terminal Operators, Customs House Agents and Warehouse Owners. Others who may qualify include port operators, authorized couriers, stevedores. (ii) Businesses that are not involved in Customs related work / activities will not be entitled to apply. (iii) Application for AEO status will only cover the legal entity of the applicant and will not automatically apply to a group of companies. (iv) In order to apply for AEO status the applicant must be established in India. (v) The applicant should have business activities for at least three financial years preceding the date of application. However, in exceptional cases, on the basis of physical verification of internal controls of a newly established business entity, the AEO Programme Manager may consider it for certification. The requirement for the applicant to have business activities for at least three financial years preceding the date of application has been relaxed to two financial years for an MSME applicant. (vi) Keeping the small and medium scale enterprises in mind it has been decided the AEO programme is made open to all Importers/Exporters whose threshold of import or export declarations is 25 documents i.e. either Bills of Entry or Shipping Bills during the last financial year. The other economic operators should have handled at least 25 documents i.e. Bills of Entry or Shipping bills during the last financial year. The eligibility requirement of handling customs documents during the last financial year has been relaxed to 10 documents from earlier 25 for MSMEs, subject to handling at least 5 documents in each half-year period of the preceding financial year. (vii) The AEO Programme Manager shall take into account such factors as the size of the MSMEs, the legal status (e.g. proprietorship, partnership etc), the structure, the key business partners and also the specific economic activity of the economic operator while applying these eligibility conditions and criteria. The qualifying period for legal and financial compliance has been reduced from the last three financial year to the last two financial years for MSMEs. (viii) Appropriate record of compliance of Customs and other relevant laws; There should be no case wherein prosecution has been launched or is being contemplated against the applicant or its senior management. (ix) An applicant will also need to demonstrate that he has (i). procedures in place to identify and disclose any irregularities or errors to the Customs, authorities or, where appropriate, other regulatory bodies. (ii). taken appropriate remedial action when irregularities or errors are identified. (x) Satisfactory system of managing commercial and, where appropriate, transport records; (xi) An applicant must be financially solvent during the three financial years preceding the date of application. (xii) An applicant must have in place appropriate internal control and measures to ensure, Premises security, cargo security, conveyance security, personnel security, security and safety standards for applicants business, and his supply chain and procedural security. 6.2 The various compliance required to be fulfilled by applicant and the manner of application and supportive documents to be submitted by the applicant are summarized under various headings under Section 3 in the Circular No. 33/2016-Customs dated 227-2016 as amended For AEO T1 and T2 accreditation for MSMEs, the present annexures i.e., Annexure A, B, C, D, E.1-E.4 have been supplanted with two annexures viz. MSME Annexure 1 and 2 to reduce the compliance burden on MSMEs. For MSME entities applying for AEO-T2 certification, the present annexures i.e., Annexure E.5.1-E.5.7 for physical verification have been rationalized to a single annexure viz. MSME Annexure 3.