Dubai, United Arab Emirates- Dubai Customs issued a decision which entails exempting the clients from paying fees of entering wrong data for their customs transactions mistakenly through Mirsal 2 system if they were corrected within two hours.

This issue was previously addressed by members of the Council in the second periodical meeting of the Council which was held in April 2010 as H.E. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation and Dubai Customs Director General and President of the Dubai Customs Consultative Council promised to consider exempting those who enter wrong data unintentionally from the payable fees.

The decision was announced during the third meeting of Dubai Customs Consultative Council for this year which took place at Dubai Customs headquarters last Thursday, October 14th, 2010. The meeting was headed by Mr. Al Yousif Sahlawi, Senior Executive Director of Corporate Affairs at Dubai Customs and the Vice-President of Dubai Customs Consultative Council and attended by Mr. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Executive Director of Client Management Division at Dubai Customs, Mr. Mohammed Faraj Abdulla, Client Management Manager and the Council’s Repertoire besides members of the Council including the heads of the business councils as well as representatives of the different business communities in Dubai.

Mr. Al Sahlawi, stated that this decision will be carried out starting November 2010. “Dubai Customs understands that some clients enter wrong data unintentionally, within two hours we can tell if they were entered by mistake or intentionally to mislead Customs, those who unintentionally enter wrong data will be given two hours to correct them; they will therefore be exempted from the fees imposed.” He said.

Yousif Al Sahlawi:
* Implementation is in November and includes who corrects data within two hours
* We are keen on overcoming obstacles encountered by the business communities
* A website will be designed for the Council

 

During the meeting, several issues which concern Customs and the different business sectors in Dubai were discussed inline with the objective of establishing the Council by the end of last year especially overcoming any business obstacle encountered by the trade community regarding the importing, exporting and re-exporting operations and other customs-related issues.

In the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Al Sahlawi greeted the attendees and expressed his thankfulness to the business sectors for their interaction and cooperation with the Council considering them strategic business partners. He stressed the Department’s support to the clients through seeking to introduce the best services to them and overcoming obstacles they might encounter.

He pointed out as well the Council’s actions in this regard during the periodical meetings where such issues and enquiries are presented transparently. “We appreciate and look into all the subjects addressed in these meetings so that we can find the proper solutions to them in order to simplify the trade process and the procedures through compliance and facilitation and to reinforce Dubai’s presence on the world trade map being a major trade hub for eastern and western worlds.

Representatives of the business communities expressed their appreciation to Dubai Customs for responding efficiently to all the matters they address and thanked Customs for the exemption decision taken on the wrong data entered erroneously unless they were corrected within two hours.

During the open discussion with the members of the Council, Mr. Musabih responded to their enquiries about the exporting and re-exporting to the GCC countries and highlighted the importance of submitting the required documents for these processes in the customs entries of the GCC countries such as the importing declaration and the statistical exporting declaration and other necessary customs declarations for completing commercial operations according to their nature as stated by the GCC Customs Union which commenced in January 2003.

Mr. Musabih confirmed Dubai Customs readiness to discuss any obstacle which can be encountered by the trade communities with the specialized authorities through the official channels.

Moreover, Mr. Musabih announced that Dubai Customs Consultative Council will have its own website on the internet where all the Council’s news can be published and to exchange opinions and knowledge.

Mr. Mohammed Faraj reviewed the agenda of the Council’s third meeting and the outcomes of the two previous meetings since the formation of the Council. He noted that Dubai Customs holds 21 business-focused meetings with the business sectors this year as compared to the 15 meetings held last year. He also said that two of the 2010 meetings are dedicated to responding to clients’ enquiries about Mirsal 2.