China Australia Photo: VCG

China and Australia will facilitate customs clearance for commodities trading via certified operators with Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) status starting from December 14, 2023, China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on Monday. 

Experts noted that the move will play a vital role in bolstering bilateral trade by elevating cooperation efficiency, along with other benefits.  

The AEO is a program under the World Customs Organization intended to secure and facilitate global trade. It represents a customs-to-business partnership to enhance international supply chain security and facilitate the movement of legitimate goods. 

The implementation of the agreement will further benefit bilateral economic exchanges amid thawing ties and recovering trade, Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center of East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Monday.

As international trade involves various parties, the positive move can be seen as a boon to facilitate the two-way trade by streamlining trade channels, Chen said. 

The GAC and the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection signed a mutual recognition agreement in November 2017 to formally recognize each other's AEO programs, according to the GAC. 

Chen said that even though the signing took place in 2017, the program was delayed as bilateral relations fell to a low ebb until very recently. More support measures are to come to tackle complicated procedures in trade, Chen said.

Facilitation measures will be carried out by both Chinese and Australian customs authorities during the customs clearance procedure for goods from AEO enterprises.

The measures include reducing document audits and on-site inspection to accelerate clearance, prioritizing the inspection of commodities that need physical inspection, and designating dedicated customs liaison officers for problem-solving targeting AEO companies. The measures aim to provide expedited customs clearance when international trade resumes.

The statement from the GAC clarified detailed information such as the formats for corresponding codes for Chinese enterprises trading with their Australian counterparts during the customs clearance process. 

Measures that accelerate the processing time for customs clearance will help involved enterprises to reduce operational costs as well as saving time, which will significantly promote the high-quality development of trade, Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Monday.

Song said that the trade complementarity of the two sides is irreplaceable. She noted that a sustainable and healthy China-Australia relationship will advance the economic development of the two countries, which will also play an important role in the stabilization of the Asia-Pacific region.

The signing of the agreement is expected to bring a benefit of $A440 million ($288.6 million) to the Australian economy over a period of 10 years, according to a statement released by the Australian government in November 2017. 

Trade between China and Australia has seen a continued recovery with cooperation strengthening in some key fields. 

For instance, the rise of China's new-energy sector has benefited industry players in Australia while helping the country's clean energy transition, Australian industry insiders told the Global Times recently, expressing optimism and confidence for continued bilateral cooperation in energy and related sectors.

China-Australia bilateral trade maintained strong momentum in the first 11 months of the year, rising 9.8 percent year-on-year to 1.464 trillion yuan ($203.78 billion), according to data from the GAC on December 7.