On February 8, 2013, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a news release announcing that the Mutual Recognition agreement between CBP's Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) and the European Union's Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) was fully implemented on January 31.

In the release CBP explains that in its final implementation phase, the mutual recognition agreement provides export privileges to C-TPAT and EU state members. Some of the benefits noted include lower risk score and less exams.

The Mutual Recognition agreement between the EU and CBP was signed in May, 2012. The notice explains that "the goal of these arrangements is to link the various international industry partnership programs, so that together they create a unified and sustainable security posture that can assist in securing and facilitating global cargo trade."

The full text of the release can be found online here.