Arab Union of Customs Executives

The Arab Union delegation of Customs Brokers participated in the events of a regional workshop in the field of pre-clearance and clearing time for the benefit of the Member States of the Agadir Agreement, organized by the Technical Unit of the Agadir Agreement in cooperation with the World Customs Organization and with the participation of senior officials in the customs administrations of the countries of Agadir (Egypt - Tunisia - Jordan - Morocco) and representatives of Department of Arab Integration at the League of Arab States in the period from 11 to 12 November 2019, Arab Republic of Egypt.

Within the framework of the work plan of the technical unit for 2019, this workshop comes, where the issue of pre-clearance and the clearing time of the most important issues that are in the interest of traders, investors and dealers with customs, which is to submit the shipment documents before the arrival of the goods in advance to begin clearance procedures, which in turn allows customs and operators Ports and warehouses Plan and operate more efficiently, which reduces the clearing time of goods, which in turn reduces the cost of goods.

To better apply pre-clearance, one of the objectives of this workshop is to define the role of customs in activating the international concept of the term pre-clearance, to identify the experiences of Agadir countries in the field of pre-clearance and clearing time, as well as to identify the best international practices in this field, in addition to overcoming the challenges facing the member countries and the areas that can be Developed The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Mohamed Tolba, Director of Trade Relations at the Technical Unit of the Agadir Agreement. He stressed that customs cooperation among the member countries of the Agadir Agreement is one of the areas where the technical unit has achieved many achievements, thanks to the support of customs administrators in the Agadir countries. Members in the field of trade facilitation and simplification of customs procedures on economic dealers by reducing the cost, time and effort in the clearing of goods.

Head of the Egyptian Customs Authority and the First Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance Kamal Najm, presented in his speech, , the experience of the Egyptian Customs Authority in this area, where it worked on many measures that would reduce the time of clearing and pre-clearance, and pointed to the conclusion of several protocols The joint committees with the concerned authorities in the Arab Republic of Egypt, such as a cooperation protocol with the Food Safety Authority and the Export and Import Control Authority, are all in the process of facilitating trade, reducing clearing time and reducing commodity prices in the Egyptian markets.

 He also pointed to the work of the Egyptian Customs Authority to expand the clearing of the green track for companies that fall under the approved economic actor program. He pointed out that the Egyptian Customs Authority is currently working on developing many procedures and systems that reflect positively on the indicators of the World Bank report, stressing the interest of the Customs Authority in developing customs cooperation in Agadir space and looking forward to achieving more achievements by the customs administrations in Agadir countries.

The workshop, conducted by Mr. Olma Silva, WCO Technical Expert, and Dr. Omar Salman, Expert in Customs and International Trade Facilitation, considered the importance of prior clearance from a regional perspective as well as the security framework of WCO standards to reduce clearing time. The regional standard for pre-clearance and clearing time was reviewed. International best practices and practices related to the field of pre-clearance and clearing time were reviewed (USA, Canada, Japan and Nigeria). The workshop concluded with a discussion session between representatives of the customs for members of the Agadir Agreement on the areas that can be developed in the field of pre-clearance better at the regional level and the challenges facing the Member States to push this system.