Korea Customs Service: "AEO-Certified Companies Reaped Nearly 300 Billion Won in Economic Benefits Last Year"

#Small and medium export company A obtained certification as an Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) in response to the demands of an overseas buyer. Afterward, the company pioneered new markets under the AEO brand and leveraged the benefits of the AEO Mutual Recognition Agreement (AEO MRA) to establish overseas bases with relative ease. As a result, company A achieved remarkable growth, with sales increasing by 216% and export volume by 286% compared to before obtaining AEO certification. This demonstrates that the AEO system plays a significant role in expanding the scope of export and import companies and facilitating their entry into overseas markets.

Last year, 317 export and import companies certified as AEOs received a total of 29.92 billion won in economic benefits. On average, each company enjoyed economic benefits amounting to 940 million won.

The Korea Customs Service announced these findings in its "2024 Economic Benefit Analysis of AEO-Certified Export and Import Companies" on October 2, 2025.

Provided by Korea Customs Service

An AEO refers to a trade-related company that is certified by the Korea Customs Service for its compliance with regulations and logistics security management capabilities, and is granted customs administrative benefits such as expedited customs clearance.

Companies certified as AEOs receive various domestic benefits, including reduced inspection rates, expedited inspections, exemption from document submission during import declarations, and tax payment conveniences. In addition, they can receive the same AEO benefits in foreign countries that have signed an AEO MRA with Korea. An AEO MRA is a type of agreement between customs authorities that allows AEOs certified by one country to be recognized and granted benefits in the partner country.

The Korea Customs Service analyzed and quantified the economic effects of the benefits received by AEO companies. As a result, it was confirmed that the 317 AEO-certified companies in the export and import sector received annual economic benefits exceeding 29.92 billion won last year.

By company size, large enterprises received an average benefit of 2.26 billion won, medium-sized enterprises 860 million won, and small enterprises 230 million won. By sector, the average economic benefit was 650 million won for imports and 610 million won for exports.

In particular, AEO-certified companies enjoyed both tangible and intangible benefits such as expanding their client base thanks to the value of the AEO brand, preventing post-clearance tax assessments through company-wide customs compliance management, securing logistics visibility, and increasing sales and improving cash flow by reducing lead time (the time from when a customer places an order to when the product is delivered).

These analysis results and the detailed economic benefits for each company can also be individually checked through the Korea Customs Service's electronic customs clearance system (UNIPASS).

Lee Myunggu, Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, stated, "To address challenges in overseas customs clearance arising from the expansion of protectionism and the strengthening of non-tariff barriers, we will strategically expand the number of countries with which we have signed AEO MRAs." He added, "We hope that more companies will obtain AEO certification, so that we can overcome export-related difficulties together and lay the foundation for renewed growth."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.