The General Customs Authority reviews the "steps" to transform the Kingdom into a global logistical platform

​The General Customs Authority reviews the "steps" to transform the Kingdom into a global logistical platform​

The General Authority of Customs expressed optimism for a better future for the movement of trade (import and export) through the land, sea, and airports, based on the general strategy of the authority that has been implementing it since 2018 and which ended several previous cases by paper handling and the weak level of coordination between the concerned government departments.

This came during a workshop organized by the Asharqia Chamber on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, and moderated by the President of the Chamber's Logistic Committee, Rakan bin Abdul-Rahman Al-Otaishan, as many of the initiatives implemented by the authority during the past two years were reviewed.​

During the workshop, which was transferred remotely, the Director-General of King Fahd Causeway Customs Dhaifallah bin Badr Al-Otaibi said that the General Authority of Customs launched its strategy during the year 2019 based on three main pillars: “facilitating trade, achieving revenues, and protecting society and the national economy.” It was launched accordingly. Therefore - a set of initiatives and procedures were reflected in the level of performance in general, and in the period before 2018, the information exchange service was launched, and the average clearance for containers was more than 12 days, and most of the goods received by the ports were inspected, and all documents were presented in paper form to customs and government agencies The other, which is dealt with independently (separately), but after the launch of the general customs strategy, the clearance program was launched through the "Fasah" platform, to become the 24-hour period, and the documents required for import and export were reduced, and the space was allowed for the advance submission of data before the actual arrival of the vehicle (Wastah) for transportation, launching services: technical linkage with other government agencies, the approved economic operator program, the countries land transport agreement program, the customs targeting center, and the customer service center (working 24 hours Seven and seven days a week).

Accordingly, Al-Otaibi said that after this strategy, the average clearance period was reduced to less than 24 hours, the percentage of manual inspection of containers decreased from 90% to less than 45%, and some unnecessary documents were canceled, and all electronic services were completed to dispense with paper documents. And the exchange of information between government agencies electronically, all of this was reflected on the Kingdom's position in all sub-indicators through a World Bank survey with the private sector.

Besides, Al-Otaibi confirms that the efforts of the customs are continuing to achieve its vision of being the first in the region in providing distinguished customs services so that the Kingdom becomes a global logistical platform, which was stipulated in the Kingdom's Vision 2030, where a review process was carried out and updated, and the technical link with all government agencies has been completed. Through the Fasah platform, improving the services provided through the platform, launching the new version of it under the name (Fasah 2), developing regulations for practicing the profession of customs clearance, expanding the economic operator program, launching and launching the import and export guide through the Fasah platform, all of this embodied in a sentence. Among the most important outputs are improving the operational efficiency of the platform, organizing the relationship between the General Authority of Customs and its partners in the private sector, and achieving more transparency, clarity, and ease of access to information regarding import and export.

He mentioned that several future projects will contribute, God willing, to facilitate trade and logistical operations, such as launching the prejudice project, the container management project, developing the filtration system for free zones, linking with the Saudi Intellectual Property Authority to combat commercial fraud, and so on ... pointing out that the continuous developments Fasah will have the ability to develop solutions for all queries facing the private sector, and we - in return for all of this - welcome all proposals and observations of the private sector.​

For his part, Director General of King Abdulaziz Yusef bin Ibrahim Al-Zakan said that we are facing a better future that serves commercial and logistical activities, and all options are open to the great goal and broad vision stemming from Vision 2030 and the General Customs Authority has several initiatives that support the Kingdom's position as a global logistical station, and from Among these steps are the free zones, which are an important point in support of this great goal, and we have several initiatives to facilitate the re-export process, as it is sufficient in this area that the process that requires 9 documents now requires two documents only, and there are initiatives to serve the Saudi industry, such as exemptions. On some raw materials, some restrictions on foreign goods and the like increased.

Al-Zakan revealed that the loading and handling were carried out with an average time of 11 hours. This average decreased to less than three hours at King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam, after the recent developments of the container terminal in the port.