*Walid Al-Salouli from Riyadh
The total number of importers and exporters in Saudi Arabia are about 57 thousand, while the numbers of customs clearance agents are 1225, according to statistics issued by the General Authority of Customs yesterday.
The number of daily passengers at customs outlets are exceeded 40 thousand passengers, while the number of daily shipments are about four thousand shipments, and the number of daily customs data are more than three thousand statements.
Customs require that the country of origin should be indicated on the commodity and cannot be removed with the date of validity of the food products. Also, the ingredients should be explained in Arabic according to the specifications of Saudi Arabia or the Gulf Cooperation Council and registration of the preparation in the Ministry of Health, especially medicines and herbs.
The Saudi Customs issued the new version of the manual to practice the profession of customs clearance, including many of the new amendments that occurred, in order to be a comprehensive and integrated reference to all customs partners who practice customs clearance.
The new manual includes 23 articles that provide detailed guidance on the profession of customs clearance and its mechanism of operation, and all customs and legal procedures related thereto.
The guide aims to regulate the practice of customs clearance, regulate the procedures for issuance and renewal and cancellation of customs clearance licenses.
In addition to that, the guide helps in establishing control on the activity of customs clearance on the movement of goods inbound and outbound and transit, and reduce customs violations and address differences that may occur when the activity between the custom clearance agents and the beneficiaries.
The Guide also contributes to increased voluntary compliance and clarifies the procedures to be followed in order to achieve and manage the compliance process.
According to the requirements that were published by the Customs Authority on its website, the importer must have a commercial record that corresponds to the type of activity with the type of the imported materials.
In addition to that, the origin of the invoice should be certified by the responsible authority for the trade in the exporting country, a copy of a certificate from the exporting country should states that the consignment conforms to the Saudi specifications or the approved international specifications, and an original certificate of origin certified by the Chamber of Commerce of the exporting country.
The Customs Clearance Agent means any person authorized to carry out customs clearance, prepare and sign customs declarations and submit them to the Customs Department, and complete customs procedures for the clearance of goods for the account of others.
