ABU DHABI: The meeting was held to discuss the agenda including an update on GCC customs union and the role played by UAE and FCA to end the provisional period and solve the pending issues including the distribution of Customs Revenue.
The Board of Directors of Federal Customs Authority held its fifth meeting for 2014 at the end of the last week in Dubai. The meeting was chaired by HE Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs and FCA Chairman and attended by the board members and representatives of ministries of economy, finance, interior and environment, the supreme council for national security, the local customs departments and the private sector.
The Board discussed a memo on the seventh meeting of the directors general of the customs in the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the issues of mutual cooperation and mechanisms of promoting and facilitating bilateral trade and the procedures of facilitating the transit of individuals and goods via Al Ghuwaifat and Al Bathaa land ports.
The Board also reviewed a report on the results of the FCA strategic and operational plan during the third quarter of the current year. The Board members praised the progress of the initiatives listed in the plan during the third quarter. According to the results, the completion rate of the FCA initiatives hit 72.1 percent compared to a targeted rate of 68.5 percent.
During the meeting, the Board discussed a memo on the FCA developmental projects and the features of the 2015 Strategic and Operational Plan as well as the initiatives to be implemented over the year to materialize the FCA vision in promoting the customs work in the UAE to the highest international levels for safe society and easy trade.
During the meeting, a work paper was presented by the FCA customs affairs department on the latest developments of the unification of the UAE customs systems given the FCA success in cooperation with the local customs departments in unification of the customs service fees and issuance of the Uniform Customs Procedure Guide and the Uniform Inspection and Examination Procedure Guide.
The Board viewed a presentation on Mirsal 2; a system applied by Dubai customs. The Board considered the idea of applying this system in the remaining customs departments in the UAE as a part of the plan for customs system unification as the system trials showed the great benefits in facilitating the customs procedures, improving performance and cutting the customs clearance time.
The Board praised in this regard the efforts made by the local customs departments to unify and develop the customs, inspection and examination procedures; enhance the efficiency of the customs ports; and apply the latest internationally applied systems and procedures.
The Board discussed the tasks assigned to the FCA and the mechanism to apply the same in coordination with the local customs departments, to achieve its leading role in the UAE customs.
