09 March 2017

CONFIAD and CLECAT welcome the publication of CEN Standard of Customs Competency in support of professionalism and competency

CONFIAD, the Pan European Network of Customs Brokers and Customs Representatives and CLECAT, the European association of freight forwarders, transport and customs-related services have welcomed the official publication of the CEN Standard of Customs Competency for Customs Representatives.[1]  

Both associations, in an effort to promote professionalism, skills and knowledge in the customs representation within the EU, have promoted and financed the development of the CEN Standard.  Under the management of AFNOR (the French National Standardisation Body) the Standard was developed in accordance with the rules set by the European Standardisation Organization CEN, taking the Customs competency framework for private sector published by the European Commission into consideration. 

Massimo de Gregorio, President of Confiad, welcoming the finalisation of the Standard said, ‘We are extremely pleased that the CEN/PC432 working group, including individuals from the private sector and national standardisation authorities has concluded its work.  Through the joined-up efforts of industry and standardisation authorities, working together for more than three years, a consistent standard has been built for the benefit of compentency for customs representation.’ 

Jean-François Auzeau, Chairman of the Customs Institute in CLECAT, equally pleased with the result, noted that ‘whereas investments made to develop interoperability between electronic systems for the exchange of information, single window etc will support daily operations in customs, a high level of expertise of the customs representative to secure compliance in the supply chain will remain critical for professionalism and good service to our shipper clients.’ 

In line with the criteria of customs competency required by the AEO-C status in the Union Customs Code, the CEN Standard will support customs representation services offered by any customs representative in an EU Member State where the customs representative is not established.  Beyond this, it will seek to enhance the quality of services offered by Customs Representatives in the European Union.[2] 

Next steps

At national level, each National Standardization Body will need to prepare and finalise the national publication of the Standard. The European body will provide up-to-date information on its website on which NSB already published the Standard. 

CLECAT and CONFIAD will seek to create more awareness on the publication of the Standard.  The associations hope that those seeking to develop professional trainings and work with standardisation bodies will implement the Standard. They also invite national customs authorities to consider the value that the CEN standard offers industry.

For further information, contact: 

CONFIAD
Gaia Pandolfi
Liaison Officer
Rue Joseph II, 40 (5eme ètage, bte 7A)
 B-1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
0486 667231
E-mail  bruxelles@confiad.org

CLECAT
Nicolette van der Jagt
Director General CLECAT
Rue du Commerce 77, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Tel +32 2 503 4705
E-mail nicolettevdjagt@clecat.org


[1] CEN Standard of Customs Competency for Customs Representatives Reference EN 16992:2017

[2] Article 18 and 21 of UCC, article 27 of Commission Implementing Regulation 2015/2447 of 24 November 2015 refer.