JEDDAH, 10 December 2007 — The Saudi Customs authorities will implement the second phase of tariff reduction on Tuesday (Dec. 11), Saleh Al-Khelawi, director of Saudi Customs, said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency yesterday.
Al-Khelawi said that the new reduction rates cover 22 products, seven of them include perfumes and pesticides whose duties will be lowered to 9.8 percent from 10 percent with an annual gradual reduction to meet the target of 6.5 percent by 2010.
Tariffs on 15 plastic products will be reduced to 14.6 percent from 15 percent with an annual gradual reduction to meet the same target of 6.5 percent by 2010.
“We have agreed to reduce the tariffs on certain products gradually. Some of these tariffs belong to the chemical harmonization initiatives, which have to be reduced to zero, 5.5 percent and 6.5 percent over 5 years after our accession (to the World Trade Organization). Some are related to the information technology agreement and they have to be reduced to zero percent over 3 years,” said Fawaz Al-Alamy, deputy Minster of Commerce and Industry.