JEDDAH, 8 February 2007 — The chief of Saudi Customs ruled out any move to privatize the customs department in a meeting at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) yesterday.
Director General of Saudi Customs Saleh ibn Al-Barrak said there would be no privatization since the Customs Department is a crucial government arm. “It is because a major function of the customs department is to implement state regulations and collect duties at all entry points,” he said.
Barrak disclosed that an integrated plan to remove obstacles in the way of people intending to invest in the Kingdom is currently being prepared. This plan is particularly relevant in helping the Kingdom after joining the World Trade Organization. Saudi Customs will be contributing greatly in helping the Kingdom in becoming one of the top 10 most investment-friendly countries in the world by 2010.
Despite the increasing duty-exemptions as demanded by WTO regulations, Barrak hopes customs revenue in the Kingdom will cross the SR11 billion mark by the end of the current year. Customs revenue was SR9.7 billion in 2005.
“With the addition of new items such as computers, wireless telecommunication devices, fax machines and mobile phones to the list of duty exemptions, the number of exempted items has reached 664 while earlier it was 462 items,” the customs chief said.
Speaking at the meeting, Sheikh Saleh Al-Turki, chairman of the JCCI, stressed the increasing significance of close cooperation between Saudi Customs and the private sector particularly in order to avoid custom delays. Al-Turki expressed hope that the implementation of new inspection techniques that would replace manual operations would do away with the embarrassing delays experienced at customs.
Al-Barrak said that Saudi Customs has already installed X-ray equipment worth SR460 million at major ports and a few land border crossings. He added that the technology would be gradually introduced at all border crossings.
Arrangements are also said to be put in place at border points to track the progress of trucks. Barrak said the present allotted 13 days for the clearance of consignments would be reduced to 10 days with the phasing out of manual checking. The introduction of the latest technology at customs would also eliminate the smuggling of contrabands, he said.
He added that the Customs Department is trying its best to reduce errors and mistakes by providing officials with training in various customs clearance procedures.
