What is AEO in-house control?

In-house control, i.e. the regular control of the own operation, is a part of an AEO trader's internal audit.

The aim of the control is to ensure that the AEO trader controls the risks of the supply chain, identifies error situations and deviations and corrects the activity when needed. Predicting risks and their effects is usually most effective when the in-house control is integrated as a part of the company’s systems for risk management and control.

Grounds

The AEO trader must inform Customs of all factors arising after the authorisation is granted which may influence its validity or content. The legislation and the AEO guidelines require control measures by the AEO as well as by the customs authority.

The customs authority must oversee that the AEO continually fulfils their granted authorisation status. The assessment of the AEO’s in-house control measures is a part of the controls performed by the customs authority.

In-house control in practice

All AEO traders perform in-house controls. More detailed instructions on performing in-house control can be found in the completion instructions for the in-house control reports.

For instructions, see: AEO in-house control reports and completion instructions

1. AEO operators control their own customs transactions by retrospectively reviewing their customs declarations and reporting on the review to Customs on request. The number of in-house controlled customs declarations to be reported is drawn up in accordance with the AEO operator role. Please note: If the importer or exporter has other activities as well, for example, warehousing, transit or submitting security data, they also perform in-house control on these, using the forwarding company’s form as a template.

The report should at least include the number of reports determined by Customs, the minimum number is:

Forwarders

The amount of customs declarations/warehouse deposits/year	Minimum amount of customs declarations/warehouse deposits to be reviewed / year
	import	export	transit	warehousing	security data (summary declaration and presentation notification)
1 - 50	5	3	3	3	3
51 - 100	8	5	5	5	5
101 - 250	15	8	10	10	8
251 - 1000	30	15	20	20	15
1001 -	40	25	30	30	25

Importers

Amount of company’s import declarations/year	Minimum amount of import declarations to be reviewed / year
1 - 50	5
51 - 100	8
101 - 250	15
251 - 1000	30
1001 -	40

 Exporters

Amount of company’s export declarations/year	Minimum amount of export declarations to be reviewed / year
1 - 50	3
51 - 100	5
101 - 250	8
251 - 1000	15
1001-	25

2. Based on the internal audit, all AEO operators lodge an annual written report 
on the detected changes and the actions taken based on them. The questions in the written report are based on the relevant parts of the self-assessment questionnaire. The report defines any changes in the company’s activities, management of commercial and transport data and the security requirements of the AEOS authorisation. Finnish Customs will request an annual report to the address aeo(at)tulli.fi.

Form templates for the reports

Customs has drafted form templates for the reports, but the companies can also submit their control data with their own form. If the company uses their own forms, they must include at least the same control objects as are included in the Customs template form. The AEO's in-house control must be continuous and the yearly report must be available to Customs upon request.