BERLIN: German Mercedes and BMW submitted a plaint to the Minister of Finance about their objection on the cars prices issued by the Customs Authority. These prices were approved since the prices upon which customs are determined.
Legal Consultant of the Customs Authority Salah El-Masry believes the Authority has the right to liquefy the safety deposits presented by the two car importers and to transfer all the amounts due to the state’s treasury.
The memo presented to the minister narrated the incidents of the dispute and that the authority found a significant gap between Mercedes and BMW’s prices in Germany, the producing country, and the prices submitted to the Customs Authority by the two cars’ agents. It contradicts with the usual accounting rules followed in calculating the difference between the German market prices and the price that the product exported to Egypt with. That was seen through the suppliers’ bills and the agents’ price lists.
According to Article 17 of GATT agreement, addressing the value for customs purposes, pursuant to the provisions of Article 26 of the Executive Regulations of the Customs Law, and according to what was approved about the accounting rules of Mercedes and BMW, the Customs Authority found that the selling price in Germany includes 19% Value Added Tax, 15% incentive of the merchant in the show room for the Mercedes cars, and 17% for the BMW cars. By that, the price of the product is reached if offered for consumption in the country of production.
The Customs Authority found as well that the agents of the two companies obtain additional incentives 1% as a buying commission, in addition to the decided percentage as a production incentive for the German merchants. As a result, the prices of the Egyptian agent are lower than the selling price in Germany by 16% for Mercedes, and 18% for BMW. This is supported by the price lists of all the agents in Egypt over the past few years, including agents of the two companies, with the accessories and extra options in these cars offered in 2015. Thus the customs authority put its price publication for the two cars.
Sources in Mercedes Benz and BMW told Daily News Egypt that they were not informed that their safety deposits at the Customs Authority were liquefied and that the two companies will file a law suit against the Authority in front of the Administrative Court.
A source in the Customs Authority said the dispute with Mercedes and BMW was referred to the Committee of Settling Disputes, which was formed in accordance to Prime Minister Sherif Ismail’s decision.
In the same context of the disputes with the German cars companies, especially Mercedes and BMW, the Customs Authority communicated with the World Customs Organisation to discuss over the dispute with the two companies.
