February 2022: Salmones Camanchaca is the only company in the industry to be certified as an Authorized Economic Operator

The General Directorate of Customs certified ten customs agents and four companies importing and exporting goods that complied with all the requirements to safeguard secure foreign trade.

Salmones Camanchaca was the only company in the salmon industry certified as an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) nationwide by the Chilean General Directorate of Customs in December 2021. It certified ten customs agents and three other companies importing and exporting goods, which joined 33 certified Chilean organizations and 70,000 worldwide that meet the requirements to safeguard secure foreign trade. Only four exporting companies have been certified in Chile so far.

The AEO Program is free and voluntary and it has been rolled out to 91 countries. It aims to enhance international supply chain security by certifying that member companies comply with a standard that safeguards secure trade processes and transactions. Authorized Economic Operators receive benefits in terms of procedural control and simplification that can result in improved competitiveness, growth opportunities and cost reductions.

“We are proud to have received this certification. A team of over 100 people in Camanchaca and the Salmon Farming division have been working on this application since 2020, which forced us to review all our supply chain processes and improve many of them, in order to comply with the requirements that ensure that we have now become a secure operator,” said Mario Aguilera, Camanchaca’s Logistics and Commercial Operations Manager. He commended the role of the AEO team at the National Directorate and especially the Talcahuano Regional Customs Directorate, who provided training and support during the previous stage.

Furthermore, this certification is the result of coordination between customs offices around the world, who have signed mutual recognition agreements that can certify AEO status for exporters. This will streamline import procedures for our shipments at destination countries, which will accelerate the import process and improve our customer experience. We also hope that this certification will help us to receive C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) certification. This is a recognized internal mechanism in the United States, which is the main destination market for Salmones Camanchaca. It develops effective security practices for importers and manufacturers, and helps the Customs Service to identify vulnerabilities in the supply chain that terrorist organizations can exploit to introduce biological or radiological products into the United States.

The award winners attended an online ceremony held on January 26 to commemorate World Customs Day, along with 180 other attendees.