During a meeting with the Business Council of the Asharqia Chamber in Jubail
Saudi Customs reviews the "pillars" of protecting the Kingdom's economy and society
The Director-General of Business Development at the Saudi Customs Authority, Badr Al-Rabdi, said that there is a big difference between the authority’s strategy before 2018 and after, as there have been radical changes to the strategy, and many initiatives have been launched aimed at conducting Saudi trade and strengthening the Kingdom’s economic position in global indicators.
Al-Rabdi said during a remote meeting organized by the Asharqia Chamber represented by the Chamber's Business Council in Jubail Governorate, Tuesday, February 2, 2021, and moderated by the Chairman of the Council, Mubarak Al-Mashal, that the operational status before 2018 - and before the customs turn into an independent body - is characterized by some difficulties, to the extent that some containers remain in the ports to More than 12 days, during which most of the goods that come to the Kingdom are inspected, documents are submitted in paper form, and some of these documents are unnecessary and each government agency is dealt with independently, which has direct economic effects.
According to the Director-General of Business Development at the Authority, after the launch of the Saudi Customs strategy in late 2017, the situation changed dramatically, as the strategy was based on three pillars (facilitating trade exchange, generating revenues, and protecting society and the national economy), and accordingly many initiatives were launched that The realization of this strategy, among its most prominent initiatives towards trade facilitation, worked on launching the clearance program within 24 hours, providing all services through the "Fassah" platform, allowing for the pre-submission of data before the actual arrival of the means of transport, launching technical link services with other government agencies, and reducing documents for import. And export (from 12 documents to two documents only), the launch of the Authorized Economic Operator Program and the Customs Targeting Center, and the launch of a customer service center that works around the clock (24 hours and seven days a week)
Based on these initiatives, Al-Rabdi says that the results that were achieved were reduced the average clearance to less than 24 hours, and the percentage of manual inspection of containers decreased from 90% to less than 50% because customs are focusing more on commodities. The most dangerous, canceling the request for some unnecessary documents, and automating all electronic services to dispense with the submission of paper documents, and electronic exchange of data between government agencies, which facilitates the final release process.
He added that the results of those initiatives and projects that were implemented after the launch of the customs strategy had been harvested, as export and import procedures improved and the clearance process developed, and thus the Kingdom advanced in all sub-indicators through the World Bank survey with the private sector from 150 in 2016 to 86 in the Last year 2020 ".. as the technical link was completed with all government agencies through the Fasah platform, which leads to improving operational efficiency and contributing to reducing clearance averages, and developing regulations for practicing the profession of customs clearance and deposit zones. This will lead to the regulation of the relationship between the authority and its partners in the private sector." And improving the services provided through the Fasah platform, launching the new version, canceling some unnecessary steps, expanding the approved “economic operator” program to become a “priority” program, as benefits will be given to companies joining the program in partnership with other government agencies, and the launch and launch of the import and export guide with more Of transparency, developing the integrated customs tariff and publishing it on the authority’s website, and launching some logistical services that contribute to reducing its cost gross.
He stressed that the ambition did not stop at this point, but rather the ambitions are higher and more, as Customs efforts are continuing to achieve its vision derived from the Kingdom's 2030 vision, as the implementation of the strategy was reviewed and updated to follow up on the achievement.
