JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia will lift customs tariff on 92 new products on June 6 in accordance with the regulations of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The move will bring the total number of products that enjoy either tariff exemption or reduction to 851.
“Under the agreement with the WTO, tariff exemption for the remaining phase-three products will be completed this Saturday,” said Saleh Al-Khulaiwi, director general of Saudi Customs.
Saudi Arabia won accession to the WTO on Dec. 11, 2005, becoming its 149th member after years of tough negotiations. In the first phase, it cut and exempted tariff on 470 products. Two years after its WTO accession, the Kingdom cut in the second phase the duties on 22 more products. Eighty-seven more goods were given tariff cuts in the third phase that started in December last year.
“By the completion of the third phase, Saudi Customs should have lifted or reduced the tariff of 671 products in addition to cutting protection tariff on 180 basic consumer products,” Al-Khulaiwi said.
The department’s website (www.customs.gov.sa) has listed the goods that are either exempt from tariffs or given tariff cuts. The goods exempted from tariff include live horses, sheep, goats, turkey, meat of sheep, various types of fish, different vegetables and fruits, and wheat and rice flour.
In April last year, the Council of Ministers decided to slash customs tariff on 180 products — including foodstuffs, building materials and consumer goods — by 15 to 20 percent as part of efforts to reduce economic burden on citizens.
Al-Khulaiwi said the byproducts of wheat would be exempt from previous tariffs, in accordance with the new Cabinet decision. A 25-percent tariff was earlier imposed on these products, he added.
The Cabinet decision also covered frozen chicken, eggs, vegetable oil, macaroni, milk, juices and canned food — that were previously imported after paying a tariff of 20 percent.
“Tariffs for these items have been reduced to five percent,” Al-Khulaiwi said.
Other major products receiving tariff cuts are bottled water, soap, sanitary pads, napkins, tissue papers, detergents, gypsum, paints, plastic pipes, materials required for doors, electric wire, pre-cast building blocks and fertilizers. Al-Khulaiwi also said 664 products — mostly foodstuffs, meat, fish, medicine, educational tools, IT materials and animal fodder — are exempt from customs tariffs.
In a related development, the Customs prevented smuggling of seven million narcotic tablets, 84 kgs of hashish and 25,000 bottles of alcohol during the first three months of this year.