PricewaterhouseCoopers certifies AEB’s Classification Solution

AEB (International) Ltd, a leading provider of supply chain management and global trade software, has announced that its solution ASSIST4 Classification 3.0, together with the SAP® plug-in ATC :: Classification, have been audited and certified by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the world’s largest professional services and public audit firm.

AEB’s classification solution accelerates the product classification process and largely automates it. All necessary sources of information, be it legislation, EU dual-use lists or database links, are just a mouse-click away. Businesses are alerted when new commodity codes come into effect at the start of a new year, and reclassifications based on legacy data are quick and reliable, so you’ll never miss another deadline. All product classifications are embedded in a transparent, fully documented workflow.

For companies without software support, the process of categorising goods and materials with the correct customs tariff number is both complex and tedious. Sifting through the entire nomenclature - consisting of 21 sections, 96 chapters and over 5,000 subheadings - in order to find the right code is a time consuming and complex task that requires a high level of expertise. With their self-learning algorithms, AEB’s solutions ASSIST4 Classification and the SAP® plug-in ATC :: Classification simplify this process.

PwC‘s auditors had access to AEB‘s test systems and conducted interviews with AEB developers and product managers. In addition to examining the software’s functionality, they also took into account the data service, documentation and the development and quality assurance processes. The certified AEB Classification software supports users in classifying materials according to the customs tariff and export control list. All relevant rules are considered automatically: nomenclature including notes, coded documents, explanatory notes, footnotes, mapping directory, etc.

PwC assessed functionalities that are relevant for the classification of materials with respect to commodity codes (export), customs tariff codes (import) and EU dual-use number, in particular:

• Maintenance of material data including supplementary data
• Import and export of material data
• Various procedures for classification of materials
• Release of classified materials
• Display of data relevant for import and Export
• Year-end changes for materials with SAP Plug-in.

Claire Umney, General Manager of AEB (International) Ltd said: “PwC’s auditors were careful to obtain all relevant information with regards to quality management, product development and life cycle management from AEB. We were particularly impressed by how meticulously they tested the software and even provided suggestions for future software developments.”

ASSIST4 Classification is the second of AEB’s solutions to be certified by PwC. In 2012, AEB’s compliance solution was audited, gaining certification for all applicable products: ASSIST4 Compliance & Risk Management; ATC :: Compliance; and COMPLIANCE||XPRESS; including the sanctions list screening, EU export controls, and U.S. EAR export controls modules.